Bones Reborn
by Kiki Ling
Summary: SEQUEL to All Hell Breaks Loose! Afterthought of Hell! - The enemy has returned and he's brought the danger with him, only this time Kai couldn't care less. Kai x Ray. COMPLETED
1. Chapter 1

Hey! people! here it is! the sequel to All Hell Break Loose! i hope you like and please tell me what you think! it's Kai x Ray as we all know and hopefully it's slightly better written than All Hell Break Loose. =D

Disclaimer: as we all know i don't own Beyblade but i do own Egan!

warning: swearing and general bad language! possible bad grammar also as i haven't looked at it for a while!

enjoy!

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**Chapter One**

~Ray's POV~

Hey remember me? I'm Ray. Ray Kon at your service.

"AND THEN HE HAS THE NERVE TO TELL ME THAT HE'S LOOKING FOR SOMETHING ELSE!"

Well I'm actually more sort of at Hilary's service at the moment. Using my expert listening skills while she rants on about Tyson…yet again.

So while she's going on about Tyson and I'm 'listening' I can tell you where we are.

It's been three months since Egan graced my body with his sprit and since then Hilary and Tyson have had more arguments than I've had…err…they've had a lot put it that way. What else has happened, oh! Max is ok, that bite mark on his neck is healing, you can still see it and the doctor says there'll most likely be a scar but it is healing. Tyson and Daichi have got used to the idea that I'm gay and no longer throw up whenever I enter the room which is good seeing as we all live in the same place.

It was about a month after the Egan incident as I call it when Max said he was going to sell his flat and move somewhere else. And that was when Tyson had the idea that they could live in the same place and seeing as I have no where to go I joined in. so me, Tyson, Daichi, Kenny, Butchie and Max all live in the same place and split the rent between us.

Our landlord is a tall gangly man who demands his rent a week before it's due and his fifteen year old daughter has the hots for me (trust me I am not bragging, it's really annoying).

What else has happened? Oh Tala and Bryan **still** aren't a couple though everyone is convinced that Bryan fancies Tala something crazy. But he seems to be content to be Tala's lapdog, yes I still loathe him and yes, he loathes me. Nothing has changed between us and nothing ever will so don't expect that half way through this story I suddenly realise I have an undying obsession for the bastard because I won't. Tala on the other hand has my sympathies, he took Egan's death hard and I don't think he's got over it yet, not that I can say I feel the same.

Tala and Bryan are living in a flat not far away, they decided that they were going to live in Japan for some strange unknown reason and they bought a nicer flat than ours which is much bigger and the landlord is nicer and has one well fit son who I have the hots for…he's just **so** cute!

"DO YOU KNOW HE **ACTUALLY** SAID IT WAS **MY** FAULT?"

And my explanations have been interrupted by Hilary's shrill (so shrill it has just destroyed both my ear drums) shriek, maybe it's time I said something to defend Tyson

"AND THEN HE HAS THE NERVE TO SAY TO MAX THAT I'M BEING RIDICULOUS AND MAX AGREES WITH HIM! I TELL YOU THE NEXT PERSON TO DEFEND TYSON I WILL SHRED TO PIECES"

On the other hand I may just take Hilary's side for my own safety.

Hilary shouts herself out (thank you God) and takes a deep breath to say

"Maybe I did overreact"

I don't get her, I really don't. One second she's saying that he was wrong to call her ridiculous next second she's agreeing with him. I just don't understand girls I really don't. Boys, they are simple you have a fight, you fall out, you spend ages slagging the guy off, you then realise how much the guy means to you and beg for their forgiveness. I can put it in stages, look:

Stage one: both boys love each other dearly

Stage two: boy A gets cross with boy B

Stage three: boy B gets angry with boy A

Stage four: both boys tear each other apart

Stage five: both boys walk away from each other, say they hate each other and will never see each other again

Stage six: they complain about the other one and hate the other for living and try to get revenge

Stage seven: they start hating each other more because they still love each other

Stage eight: boy B missies boy A

Stage nine: boy A misses boy B

Stage ten: they get back together ands start back at the top again.

See! Ten easy stages! None of this physiological mumbo jumbo. And that has led us back to where I live. Hilary still lives with her parents but she spends most practically all of her time here.

And who is the first to greet us? Butchie! Oh goody, goody (I think not). You don't know Butchie, let me fill you in. first off me and Butchie hate each other with passion, in fact the only one who likes Butchie is Tyson.

In my opinion Butchie is a brat who needs some serious training and his eyes remind seriously of Tala and Egan's eyes which freaks me out. I would say they were related but that is impossible. Anyway back to why I hate Butchie, he gets what he wants when he wants if he wants. He creates havoc around the flat and Tyson lets him get away with it Scott free. He eats anything and everything he can fit in his gob, he's territorial and when he's on the sofa no one else is allowed. He won't let you watch the program you want to watch without making a racket, he always wants you to play with him and basically he deserves to be skewered (violent aren't I).

"Butchie, go and play outside!" snaps Hilary

Hilary doesn't like Butchie either, she goes through to the kitchen and puts on the kettle, Butchie pesters which she tries to ignore but he squeaks and whines, I sit at the table and wait for Hilary to give into Butchie's pleas/demands.

"Fine!" there we go, Hilary turns round and grabs a box and pulls out a biscuit "have your dam dog biscuit then!"

Oh I haven't mentioned that have I, silly me. Butchie is a dog well a puppy, I think he's a Husky but I'm not big on the breeds of dogs so I could be wrong. Tyson's grandpa bought him for Tyson when Tyson moved out saying that Butchie would protect Tyson in his time of need. What he didn't say was that Butchie would be the biggest most bratish coward of the century, I'm not even kidding, the animal is scared of the kitten next door which is about as scary as Kenny.

Butchie comes up to me nips my ankle and growls at me, I ignore him, he should be used to me by now seeing as I was here before he was. Mind you I'm not keen on dogs so he probably senses it. Supposedly horses can sense when you're scared of them so maybe the same goes for dogs.

Butchie nips my ankle again

"Butchie, knock it off!" I pick the puppy up by the scruff of its neck, put my arm firmly around its waist and put it firmly outside closing the door on him. I know, I know you probably think I'm a monster who is cruel to animals, trust me when I say if I was cruel to animals Butchie wouldn't be alive. I actually like animals but I think that Butchie is an alien from out of space. Do you know he actually chewed Kenny's laptop, whoa! I have never seen Kenny so angry; his laptop now has a chewed corner.

"Hey Ray" I turn to see Tyson coming in the kitchen, he immediately notices Butchie outside.

"Aw! Poor Butchie! How did you get shut out there?" Butchie pulls his best puppy face which is quite easy for him. Let me tell you about Butchie's puppy faces. He has three.

One; his usual face which consists of big scary looking eyes, a big wet cold nose and a set of vicious little teeth. This is called the toothy grin (emphasis on toothy)

Two; his eyes turn into saucers and he closes his mouth to create his cute dog look which is used only for Tyson because Tyson's the only one who falls for it, the rest of us know never to judge a book by it's cover or a Butchie by his face. This one is called the puppy dog look

Three; this is the face that Butchie uses on the rest of us; because he knows that deep down we are not animal beaters. His ears go flat, his eyes go huge, he crouches down low on all four showing us that we are the boss and that he was wrong and we were right. And then he whines pathetically. This face is called the bag of bones way. So called because he is showing us that he is nothing but bones and fur while we are big strong humans who he worships.

Liar. He is nothing but a big liar.

"Did someone shut the door on you accidentally?" coos Tyson, no they didn't Tyson; it was deliberate. I did it to save my ankles. Tyson do not open that door! I forbid you! Tyson opens the door and lets Satan's spawn I mean dear little Butchie in. he makes a beeline for my ankles.

"Ow! Fuck off Butchie!" I glare at the animal; I swear he sniggers

"Aw Ray be kind!" Tyson sits down next to me and strokes Butchie who puts on his Puppy dog look while me and Hilary spit feathers behind Tyson's back. Butchie gives us the Toothy grin as Tyson turns to me still stroking that…that…that thing!

"Ain't he cute!"

Oh yes Tyson he's adorable, so cute, I really love his teeth which he sinks into my ankle and those claws on the end of his feet which sink into your skin. He's just the best! I love him so much. In fact I love the dog so much I could squeeze the life out of him in an embrace and keep squeezing,

At this point of time I would like to make this one comment:

No animal in the making of this production was harmed in anyway, if anyone is distressed by the comments that imply violence towards animals are welcome to make their relevant complaints to our complaints department (Kenny) who will record this and we will make changes where possible.

So you know the procedure of making a complaint to our complaints department (Kenny) I will go through it now:

Welcome to the complaints department please choose the appropriate number

If you have a complaint to make about the use of violence toward animals press one.

If you have a complaint to make about the style of language used in this production toward animals press two.

If you have a complaint to make about the attitude towards animals press three.

If have you have any other complaints to make concerning the making of this production press four.

…

…

Please hold, your call is important to us

…

…

Thank you for holding, you are now third in the queue. Please hold, we apologise for the wait, our staff is very busy but will get to you as soon as they can. Thank you for calling, your call is important to us.

…

…

Please listen to some music while you wait, your call is important and we will get to you as soon as we can. You are fourth in the queue

_Run Butchie, run Butchie, run, run, run. Don't let Ray have his fun, fun, fun._

_He'll get by, without his doggy pie_

_So run Butchie, run Butchie, run, run, run, - beep tzt beep_

…

…

Thank you for holding, your call is important to us, you are sixth in the queue – beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep unfortunately we are unable to take your call at the moment please ring and try again later, your call is important to us. Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep, Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep please hang up, please hang up.

As you can see your call is very important to us…yeah right. Uh oh Tyson's got that 'I'm going to say something that's going to upset you but please don't hurt me' look. That must mean he's going to talk about…

"Ray, you know my party…"

"You mean the party that is for your birthday where you will become eighteen"

"Yes…"

"It isn't your birthday is it Tyson? You should have said something! Oh wait I think you did once, maybe twice, for the past four weeks"

Tyson scowled at me while I grinned "yes! Well it's kinda special to me, so I want, I want to invite all my friends around…"

I was right he _is_ going to talk about…

"Including…Kai"

I fell silent, while Tyson is freaking out about whether he's upset me I will explain why this is a touchy subject. In three words:

We split up.

Well technically we haven't split up it's more sort of we had a fight about month ago and since then we've going through the stages, I don't know about Kai but I'm on stage six and in case you're wondering I'm boy B. I haven't seen him for at least three weeks since we were at a club where he was flirting with someone just to get me rattled – it worked. I now officially hate him. He's a bastard and a jerk and is now known as the Kick ass Kai. Mainly because he kicks everyone's ass and he's now made sure that I know that everyone fancies him. Of course we've fought before but that time we really took strips out of each other to the extent I hit him and you know me, I am not naturally violent (Butchie not included). Tyson and the others call it The Big Fight.

But recently I've been seeing myself as single so I don't think we'll finish the stages but…I'm ok with that, I don't want to be with him…ever again.

I should have known from the start that Kai wasn't a good choice for me; he always shoves people away from him and then wants them back and then gets angry with them. I don't even know where I stand with him, we had the fight and then he just acted like he didn't care, gave me the cold shoulder and it hurt so I decided to do the same back. I got in touch with my Ex, Paul do you remember him? No? Well I don't blame you, I only mentioned him once because Kai looked like he was going to commit murder back in the days when he cared. Well anyway I got in touch with Paul, he lives not far and he works in a café that just opened so I spend most of my time there (when I'm not dealing with things back here). We're not together but we're good friends now. When I got in touch with him I made sure Kai knew I had and do know what his reaction was?

"Hmph"

That was it. No kidding! That was it. But I don't care anymore, I have moved on, I no longer see Kai as…anything, not friend, lover or enemy. He is…Kai. I think I'd better answer Tyson before he wets himself.

"Tyson, if you want to invite Kai then you can, I have no problem with it. In fact why don't you invite him to stay here? Invite Tala and Bryan while you at it, they can stay in my room and I'll move into Max's."

Tyson grins "are you sure?"

Only if you let me cook that dog for dinner and let me put poison on it the day Kai comes, I smile "of course" (I really do like animals). Satisfied that he is not going to upset me Tyson runs off like a little boy that's- wait a minute he's run off leaving me and Hilary (whom he ignored) with a toothy grin, a flash of teeth and

"BUTCHIE! STOP BITING MY ANKLE" I roar at him, he promptly (being the big boy that he is) took the Bag Of Bones expression and in five seconds flat I was tickling his tummy and telling him I was sorry. I. Hate. That. Dog was written all over Hilary's face as she snorted and left the room with her head held high…

* * *

Two minutes and then he arrives. Get a hold of yourself Ray Kon. It's fine, it's ok, and I'm going to be fine. It's ok. Oh hello this is me telling me that I'm going to be fine when Tala, Bryan and…Kai arrive, next week is Tyson's birthday and it's been two weeks since I suggested to Tyson that he invited Tala and Bryan as well as Kai.

Since then Tyson has being trying to persuade Kai to actually come, when I told Tyson he could invite Kai I didn't actually say that either I was going to make it easy for Kai or that Kai was going to come in the first place. It took Tyson two weeks but he finally got Kai to come, he's quite proud of himself…he really, really needs to get a hobby.

As I hear the front door bell I stand, a pain burns my entire torso, hissing I go to the door. Remember when Egan stabbed me, the wound has healed badly, it still hurts…a lot. I hate Egan. I hate a lot at the moment, I hate Kai, oh no I don't do I, he means nothing to me. So I hate Butchie, I hate Egan and I hate Bryan. All bastards and incidentally have all made me feel pain. Butchie on a daily basis, Egan just once but it hurts on a secondly basis and Bryan once how ever many years ago it was. BUT I do have a scar, yep! A scar! It's on my arm, it's not much but it is a scar.

I come to the door still breathing hard with the pain; it'll go off any second now

"Hey Ray" Max comes up behind me putting a hand on my shoulder looking at me with concern "want me to open the door?" he suggested hopefully, he wants to open the door so I don't do anything to Kai on sight but it's important I open the door so Kai realises I don't care. I shake my head, pull myself together and I…am…good! I pull the door open to reveal three people who have little patience.

No not the three musketeers, they have patience…I think, I don't know, I've never met them.

Kai, Tala and Bryan are standing on the doorstep.

Bryan, same cold hearted bastard. Tala, his red hair no longer in that hair style he's so famous for. It has no product on it which means it's actually floppy and looks quite nice…and Kai, hhheeeeeeey! No blue triangles on the face! We are feeling brave, what would Granddaddy think if he saw that! Tut, tut! Why don't you dare yourself and put a smiley face on there instead – sorry, am I sounding bitter? I 'm not supposed to care about that self important, arrogant, overbearing, haughty son of bitch who think he's on top of the world and that a mere best beyblader in China who was the one who suffered loosing his body to Egan is of no consequence to him.

"Hello" I say, wow my voice has no emotion to it, this is easier than I thought, and maybe I could say something to Kai that tells him that I really, really, really don't care about him. What should I say? Hey punk! No that's…just wrong. Unfortunately I can't say anything because Max has foreseen a situation and leapt in to avoid it.

"Kai! Tala! Bryan!" do you have to sound so excited to see Bryan? Or Kai for that matter. And then because Butchie wouldn't be Butchie without making himself known comes running out of the house with Tyson in his wake and carrying his favourite toy. Just so you know I hate Butchie but the thing I hate more than Butchie is Butchie's favourite toy.

It's a squeaky slipper and Butchie has been known to play with his squeaky slipper at four a clock in the morning in MY room, on MY bed and drooling on MY pillow.

The three Russians watch calmly as Butchie, Butchie's favourite toy the squeaky slipper and Tyson go headlong into the road in front of a van which brakes, curses and drives on still cursing. Some people are so kind.

"TYSON!"

Max runs out past our guests forgetting that I might murder Kai on the door step and out to Tyson who has landed in a heap with the squeaky slipper while Butchie has come running back and proceeded to yap at Bryan. I do believe that dog might grow on me, just as long as he and his squeaky slipper annoy Bryan and not me.

Tala turns to me "how are you Ray?"

"I'm fine, you?"

"I'm alright"

These few simple words show that Tala knows that I am the one who did get rid of his little brother but he does not feel anger – wait a minute! No anger! No revenge! No pain! No hatred towards me! I feel cheated! And I was so up for a fight…sigh…fine, I guess me and Tala are friends…or as close to friends as I can be with someone who is so closely connected to the Falcon of evil whom I despise.

I let them in; as Kai passes I can't help but check him out, whine, why did I have to fall for someone who is so hot! Next time I'm falling for some really ugly fucker so when we split I don't go ooh he's sssssoooooooo hot! Although I think he glanced at me, he actually graced his eyesight with little ol me for a whole whopping three seconds! … Ah I need to get out more.

In fact I will, I'll go see my good friend/Ex Paul, as I leave through the door grabbing my coat I hear Hilary call "Ray, where are you going?"

"I'm going to see my friend forward slash Ex, Paul!" I call back and did Kai hear that? Oh yes he did! Tee Hee!

* * *

~Max's POV~

I pick Tyson up off the road and grin at him "nice one Tyson!"

"Sure thing! Did it work?"

"Sure Ray and Kai barely looked at each other!"

"Awesome, just as long as we can keep this up there will be no blood split!"

"Ray mentioned his Ex though, Kai will have heard that"

Tyson picked up the squeaky slipper "doesn't matter, just as long as we keep those two separate my birthday should go swimmingly!"

Ha! Tyson, that is not going to happen, even if we do keep Kai and Ray separate there's always you and Hilary. Hey folks! I'm the man! I am the Max-mister! Max stud! The one the only- I have no idea what I'm saying so let's pretend I didn't do that. So yes you walked in on our little escapade of making sure that Kai and Ray don't murder each other, and we did it by letting Butchie run which let's face it isn't hard but the main point is Kai and Ray are both still alive with the correct number of limbs.

Me, Tyson and Butchie's squeaky slipper all go into the kitchen where everyone has congregated all smiling well not quite, the rest of us are but not our guests aren't, not good is it? If I didn't know our guests didn't smile I would be worried. Kai's not got those triangles on his face, he looks less scarier without them, something which I am sure Tyson will pick up and he will most try and push his luck – no what am I saying Tyson is going to be eighteen next week, he is grown up and mature … … … … do you know? I can lie to myself so easily.

* * *

Ah the smells of cooking hit the stomach like a catapult, I beginning to sound like Tyson, not good! Although to give me credit it is seven in the evening and we've all gone to some sort of fancy restaurant, Hilary's idea to eat out, and Kai's idea to pay hence the poshness.

I have ordered some wine and salmon for starter, vegetable soup, and lamb for the main, chocolate gateau for pudding and then rounded off by coffee (yay! Yes I'm still the addict) and biscuits and cheese

Needless to say Tyson ordered two glasses of wine and water and three starters, four types of soup, two mains, five pudding, and two helpings of biscuits and tea. The waiter was on his knees by the time Tyson had finished.

Ray ordered the most expensive drink, the most expensive starter, the most expensive soup, the most expensive main, the most expensive pudding and the most expensive afters. Yes he is being childish and yes it's going to be a long week.

Kai for his part made no reaction which is both good and bad. Good because there wasn't a scene and bad because Ray is just going keep acting like this until someone kills him (not necessarily Kai.)

We all start talking or rather Tyson and Daichi start talking, Hilary and Tyson start bickering; me and Kenny try to calm them, Tala and Bryan converse in Russian. In fact everybody is making some sort of sound except Kai and Ray.

They just sit there eating; you can sense the tension. I am not kidding it feels like a knife could cut through the tension. Taking a glance at Ray who is sitting beside me I see a look in his eyes, not anger, not hurt, not any of those things. What I see in his eyes is…desire. Eh? I thought those two had split or something. But his eyes are sparkling with desire, ok slightly worrying, he glances up at Kai and then down at his plate. Curiously I glance at Kai. He's eating and then his eyes flitter up at Ray while Ray is looking at his plate. Those eyes of Kai's are also filled with something…a kinda fiery aspiration that could make a person very scared if assumed look was aimed at them. Either Ray isn't scared by him or he doesn't see it because he carries on eating, Kai looks like he's about to explode. Do these two find other eating evocative or something? Eww!

I'm so enthralled in watching these totally miss each other's glances that it takes Tyson five minutes to bring me back to earth.

"Sorry Tyson"

"You seemed in your own world"

Err Kai and Ray's world actually; I've decided to make a project out of it. So operation get Ray and Kai back together shall commence. Starting from…n…no…now!

So to begin! … I haven't thought this through. Ok look at the situation: Ray obviously still fancies Kai and Kai obviously still is of the opinion that Ray is his and so fancies him back. They keep on looking at each other at intervals but keep missing each other plus the fact that they're probably still angry at one another. Hmm so what I need to do is make it so they look at each other at the same time. So time how long the intervals are…excusing me one moment.

…

…

Ok so Kai waits forty-five seconds before looking up again and Ray waits thirty two seconds, so that is a difference of…err…err…13! 13 seconds oo unlucky number. So what I need to do is keep Ray from looking at Kai for 13 seconds more and then they see each other. Ha! This is so easy!

"So Ray" 3 seconds

Ray looks at me, 2 seconds

"Err" 4 seconds to come up with something

"Never mind" 3 seconds plus 1 second for Ray to give me a strange look and look away.

"Kaiiiiiiiiii!" Tyson you have totally ruined my plan, and Ray looks up as Kai looks at Tyson. Sigh ok so maybe not as easy as I first thought.

"So Kai what have you been doing recently? We haven't seen you round for ages!" Duh! Obvious reasons! AKA best Chinese beyblader in the world. You really would think that Tyson would have grown a brain by the time was eighteen wouldn't you. It all hangs in the next thing Tyson says.

"I've been living with my grandfather" replied Kai. Ok folks what Tyson says next governs the way I look at Tyson for the rest of his life. So! Does Tyson Have A Brain?

"Does he still want you to control Black Dranzer?"

Ok you do not mention Black Dranzer EVER. So the answer to my question, Does Tyson Have A Brain? The answer is…No. This last comment from Tyson creates silence as we all look at Tyson and think 'you prat!' even Ray who is out to get Kai angry hasn't mentioned Black Dranzer, even Bryan who spends most of his time making other people angry hasn't mentioned Black Dranzer, even Kenny who is dying to know the history behind Black Dranzer hasn't mentioned it. But Tyson, good old Tyson, no one else like him.

"What's Black Dranzer?" asks Daichi

I take that back, there is someone like Tyson and now we shall sit back and watch as Tyson and Daichi dig themselves into a bigger hole because if Tyson explains about Black Dranzer in front of Kai then it's his own fault.

"Black Dranzer is a bit beast that belongs to the Hiwatari family, few years ago Kai's grandfather gave it to Kai to use against people so he could become the most powerful beyblader in the world. At first Kai accepted Black Dranzer, he cast aside his friends and his own beyblade Dranzer. He then took all of the All Starz's Bitbeasts and three of the White Tiger Bitbeasts. He then tried to beat his own team the Bladebreakers so he could say he was the best, he beat Ray and Kenny until there was just me but then Max turned up when I was about to be beaten and launched his beyblade at Kai, then we launched Kai's old blade Dranzer on him and Dranzer beat Black Dranzer. Kai then nearly drowned and we saved his life"

Silence.

This is the part where me, Ray and Kenny all step in to save Tyson's life.

"I need to go to the bathroom" muttered Ray

"Yeah me too" I also got up hurriedly

"Wait for me!" squeaked Kenny.

I would like to point out that by doing this which seems an act of cowardice it is actually a clever plan. By getting Kai to hurt Tyson now Tyson will learn never to mention Black Dranzer ever again. So if you think about it we are saving Tyson's life…just in the future.

"What was Tyson thinking!" Kenny shuddered once we reach safety err the bathroom "has he gone totally mad?"

Ray goes over to the large mirror and starts checking his image, for someone as nice as Ray you wouldn't think he was so vain. I go over to him

"You look lovely darling"

"Point heard and taken Maxie"

I smirk and punch Ray gently on the arm "we were thinking of going to the cinema on Saturday, you wanna come?"

"Sure, what we seeing?"

"We thought we'd let Tyson choose"

"As long as it's not Little Mermaid the umpteenth adventure I don't care"

"You have a thing against Little Mermaid?"

"If you spent 3 hours with Hilary's little sister watching all the movies she wanted then so would you"

I laughed, we all love Hilary's little sister, she's so cute but it does mean we let her get away with blue murder. Her name's Lily and she's just turned eight a few months back, and sometimes when Hilary is at university or away we baby-sit Lily because Hilary's parents are very busy people, they both work somewhere that is very important but I don't know what because I think I lost consciousness halfway through Hilary's explanation. Tyson got a nose bleed because of it, Daichi, Kenny and Ray looked like they were all going to cry so naturally by the end of the explanation Hilary had noticed our less than attentiveness and had then gone on for another three hours complaining about how we never listened to her. By then I had come round and then fallen off my chair and hit my head on the floor, Kenny had broken down, Daichi had run off screaming, Tyson had filled the room with blood and fainted from lack of blood and Ray had gone off for some food, had a fight with Kai, made up again, fought again and then come back for another half hour of torture.

"Do you think Kai's finished killing Tyson yet?" asked Kenny

"Doubtful" said Ray his voice blank like it always is when the topic of conversation includes Kai. We wait; we can't hear anything in here which I can't decide whether is a good thing or a bad thing mind you it's probably a good thing because sound effect when you don't know what's going on is worse than anything.

"Where are we going after this?" asked Ray probably more to break the silence

"A club I think"

Kenny whines; Ray and me smirk. Kenny doesn't like getting drunk because he goes hyper and says silly things.

"You don't have to get drunk" I say "it's not compulsory, in fact the law prefers it if you don't get drunk"

Kenny moans again

"Just don't let Tyson talk you into more than you want" said Ray "you know how pushy he can become when drunk"

Kenny sighed resignedly, I smiled at him "you don't have to come if you really don't want to, I imagine all we'll do is break up fights between Hilary and Tyson" and maybe Kai and Ray I silently added in my mind, I think Kenny also caught on to what I thought because he said

"That would just be too cruel of me Max"

We both stole a look at Ray who was staring into space with a look of acquiescent anger on his face. We both looked at each other both wondering what seeing Kai again was doing to Ray. We all looked up as the bathroom door opens as Tyson comes in or rather staggers in with food all over him. He looks at us

"Thanks for your help"

"No problem!" I beam "just think of it as us saving your life in the future"

Tyson snorts and picks a piece of Haddock off his shoulder, I'm sorry but it is funny! Tyson glares at us as our eyes fill up with tears of laughter.

"Hey! Knock it off!"

"I'm sorry, but it is kinda self inflicted" chokes Kenny behind his laughter. I can't hold it back any longer, Tyson's glare becomes more profound as I howl and guffaw but it just doesn't work especially with cheese sauce running down his face. Tyson glares as three of his closest friends laugh and laugh at his misfortune.

"Where's Daichi?" I gasp

"Outside sitting at the table in shock"

I snort with laughter again

"It's not funny!"

I beg to differ Tyson "you'd better go home and clean up before we go out" I wipe my eyes "we don't want the fan girls calling you Food-Man!"

Tyson glares again as we all laugh again "we could make a theme tune" says Kenny

"Food-Man! Food-Man! Da, dada, da!" I think I'm on to something, maybe it's gonna be a number one, I'll think on it and get back to you. Mean time we all go back to the table let me change my words. We all go back to the remains of the table. This is what we see, the table broken in half, the plates are all smashed, food is everywhere, there's even some outside. The window has a large crack down it; the other customers that were sitting at the tables nearest to ours have all retreated to the other side of the restaurant. And sitting in the middle of this mêlée is Daichi sitting very straight in his chair, eyes wide covered head to foot with bits of food. I poke him on the shoulder experimentally.

"Daichi?"

He looks at me very slowly "the devil is back!" he states.

* * *

So what do you think? do tell!

until next time people!

kiki


	2. Chapter 2

Well here we are, 2nd chapter of **Bones Reborn**. Thanks for all the reviews and alerts!

Disclaimer: B don't belong to me!

enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Two**

~Max's POV~

_And sitting in the middle of this mêlée is Daichi sitting very straight in his chair, eyes wide covered head to foot with bits of food. I poke him on the shoulder experimentally._

"_Daichi?"_

_He looks at me very slowly "the devil is back!" he states._

Ooooooooookay, moving on

"Where did everyone else go?"

"Hilary went off with Kai and Tala went off with Bryan"

"Who destroyed the table and window?" asked Ray calmly looking round

"Bryan, he got very angry and started shouting. Apparently he's as protective of Kai as he is of Tala"

"Then what happened?"

"Kai and Tala pulled Bryan off Tyson and got him outside while Hilary gave Tyson and me a lecture about something, I've blanked the memory, and then went outside to the others and went off with Kai while Tala pulled Bryan the other way"

Daichi said this all very slowly and shakily, poor Daichi you have to feel kinda sorry for him. Tyson is used to this stuff happening to him but that was probably Daichi's first time unless you count the time Kai nearly killed him for talking about him and Ray to Mariah.

"Well, I guess that's the first day over," murmurs Ray to himself "and here was me expecting Kai to be having a go at me"

"Excuse me!" we all turn to see a portly man marching over to us, uh oh this is the time to move.

"What have you done to my beautiful restaurant? I hope you plan to pay for this!" he looks at us "as well as for the food!"

Err Kai was going to pay and none of us have enough money to pay the guy. Maybe if we all club together and-

"Well yes of course" says Kenny "we'll just go now and get the extra money" why is he glancing at me? What's with the wink? Ohhhhh! We're escaping! Nice one Ken!

"So you wait here and we'll just go and get the money" says Ray taking a step back. Daichi and Tyson have also caught on and we all take a step to the door.

"How do I know you will come back?" demands the owner of the destroyed table

Oh this is my cue! My eyes widen and tear rolls down my face

"You don't trust us?" sniffle another tear "I feel so…hurt" my voice turns to a squeak, sniffle, we're by the door now few more sniffle steps and we are sniffle free sniffle another tear. My big eyes blue and tearful another step, two more steps to freedom. "How could you be so untrusting?"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" says the owner, ha! My plan worked! Mmmuwahh HA! HA! Sniffle, another tear, we are by the door when another customer says to the man

"Hello! They're swindling you!"

Busted! The man's eyes narrow

"Run!" says Tyson

We all turn and pelt out of there, we hear someone behind us but years of torturous training sessions with Kai have finally paid off for something. Down the street, passed oh a really hot chick ah! No Max no distractions! Tyson don't stop!

"And who are you?" Tyson asks the girl before me and Ray pull him on, round the corner with a whiney Tyson and up that street and round another corner to…safety!

We all stop gasping for breath but still thrilled, it was great! Ok so we probably should have paid the man but come on! It was fun!

"That was wicked!" said Tyson grinning

"Especially the bit where you stopped for that girl!" said Ray sarcastically, leaning against the wall

"Hey! You would have stopped for a guy you thought was hot!"

"Possibly" conceded Ray

"At least we escaped" Kenny is still gasping as he looks round the corner "no one's coming"

"Of course not!" Tyson slaps Kenny on the back "we totally out ran them"

"Hey! Maxie!" I turn at the sound of my name and see Hilary and Kai sitting on a bench on the other side of the road. The others also look up at the call, Tyson screams when he sees Kai and claws his way up a lamppost. Yes you read that right, a lamppost. I fail to see how that will help him. Daichi runs off screaming "mommy! Daddy! Inspector Frost!" how's Inspector Frost supposed to help? He's a made up character, Daichi. I need to explain the concepts of TV to that boy.

While Ray and Kenny try to get Tyson down from his lamppost I crossed the road and sat down next Hilary.

"What _is_ Tyson doing?"

"Looking for Narnia?" I suggested

Hilary sighed; sometimes Tyson is just too embarrassing. I agree, I still remember the time he asked the Queen of England how many times a day she goes to the toilet. Don't even ask! I warn you, it is not pretty.

"So what we gonna do now?" asked Hilary

"Well once we've got Food-Man I mean Tyson down from the lamppost I'm sure he'll have an idea"

"Food-Man?" asked Hilary looking slightly pained

I snigger "yep, got his own theme tune, check it out: Food-Man! Food-Man! Da, dada, da! He's the one! You know when he's gone!"

"Maxie, that is awful" says Hilary very calmly

"It's a work in progress!" I defend

"Mm, keep it that way"

I think it's quite good, it rhymes and everything! Some people just don't know an artist when they see one. I glance at Kai; he looks surprisingly calm as he watches Tyson's feeble attempts to hide behind his hat. Oh god! Please don't tell me Tyson is on top of a lamppost hiding behind his hat. Why doesn't he just shout "HELLO KAI! I'M HIDING OVER HERE!" and have done.

I sit there with Kai and Hilary in silence until Hilary burst out

"Oh for crying out loud Kai just go over there and give him a kiss smack on the lips!"

"That's not my style or Ray's!"

"It's what me and Tyson do!"

"Yeah, then five seconds later you're fighting again!" Kai answered "great advice"

"Eh?" I said needing to catch up with the conversation

"Kai misses Ray" Hilary filled in for me, aaawwwwwwww! So sweet!

"And he told you that?" I raised my eyebrows, Hilary must be good at getting things out of people; Kai never tells anyone anything. Kai answered me with a pained look and I look closely at him. One of his cheeks is slightly redder than the other.

"Hilary!" I say

"What! I needed to get him to talk somehow!" Hilary is stubborn

"But slapping him! Aw poor guy!" I go and sit next Kai put my arms around him and start sobbing pathetically. Kai who is used to this eccentric behaviour does nothing except sit there. Tyson, Kenny and Ray look over at the sound of my loud uncontrolled sobs (I cry at anything), see what is happening and go back to try and persuading Food-Man from his ticket to Narnia.

Kai looks up as Tala and Bryan come up; to his credit he ignores their looks as they look at the pathetic sobbing heap formally known as me.

"What?" he says slightly defensively, I do believe Kai is quite fond of us. I feel so loved! This just makes me cry even more. Bryan gaze moves from me, to Kai's red cheek, to Hilary who looks like she's ready to bring down an entire elephant by herself.

Tala in the meantime is looking curiously at Tyson on top of his lamppost, down to Ray who is letting Kenny do all of the persuading. Just let Kenny do it Ray, you know no matter what anyone says Tyson will not come down.

By the time Tala and Bryan have taken in this scene their faces say it all in one word: Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

Kai glares at them in particular Bryan "thank you for destroying the restaurant"

Bryan shrugs ignoring Kai's sarcasm "he insulted you, made a fool out of you"

"And you think I can't look after myself and tell my own teammate to shut the fuck up?" Kai's voice is threatening

"Of course I do" said Bryan "but you would have just let him get away with it. You've gone soft Kai."

You see this is where we hit a conundrum because you can tell Kai his team is one of the saddest teams ever born, you can tell him that Tyson is a moron, he will agree with you on this. But tell Kai he's gone soft and he's going to prove to you that he's not. Kai stood up - I unceremoniously fell off him. Go on Kai you tell that bastard who's boss! Put him in his place! Ooh if I was Bryan I'd be shaking even if I had been trained into blocking everything but anger but he hasn't blocked out everything, has he? Cos he loves Tala! Anyway that means if he can feel love then he can feel fear and right now he should feel fear because Kai is going to put him down! The whole street is silent as we wait for Bryan to going to his grave. Even Tala looks uncomfortable because he knows that Kai is NOT to be called soft at any time. He'll probably be an old man and then some teenager will call him a soft old man, wow do I feel sorry for that kid! Kai looks Bryan directly in the face, oooh this is it! Bryan is going to regret those words and eat them. He'll wish he was back in the Abby by the time Kai is done with him, Kai is gonna make Bryan pay!

"You don't know what you're talking about" says Kai sighing softly, he walks off

What! Is that it? Just that! No! Can't be! How could Kai just walk away like that! I feel…I feel…I feel…I feel…oh I don't know. Why are you asking! You some kinda shrink! I bet you are and you out to trick me into sharing my feelings! Well you know what! It ain't gonna work! … Yeah I'm just gonna shut up now.

* * *

~Ray's POV~

"Butchie! Come back!"

Butchie looks back at me as if to say 'Ray, you want me, you have to catch me' dam dog!

I can't believe Kai last night! He let a chance of punching Bryan's lights out just go past, that is soooo wrong. You should always be looking for a chance to hit Bryan, how could he just let it go by. How! It's sacrilege! A blasphemous act!

Ok random subject: why is it? That people always come and say hello to a strange dog? Ok so this subject ain't totally random, it's my turn to walk Butchie. Anyway you're walking along with your dog or Tyson's dog in this case. And this stranger is walking towards you so you put your dog on the lead and the dog starts growling. It is obvious that the dog is not a nice dog (actually he's a horrible little thorn in my side) and yet the stranger comes galumphing over with a bloody great grin no leer on their face and say

"That's a nice dog" hm lets examine this shall we, the dog is barking and growling and straining on the lead. It is bearing its teeth and giving the stranger every sign under the sun that it is NOT a friendly dog.

But wait! It gets better because now they say, "what's its name?"

You give them the name and then they go "can I stroke it?" sure, as long as you don't want your hand anymore, then they go "there, there Fido who's a pretty girl" but it's not called Fido, **he's** called Butchie. And then the inevitable happens and all you hear is "wwaa! Waa! Your dog bit me!" no shit Sherlock "you should keep you dog under control! You let her run wild!" well actually no I don't because you see **he's** on the lead so **he's **not running at all is **he.** I can't keep the dog under much more control. Honestly some people are sssooooooooo thick! And then they have the **nerve** to demand an apology! Cheek of it!

Butchie growled again , I sighed and him back on the lead, why couldn't Tyson have a nice dog, one that **doesn't** bite people, I thought he was supposed to be a dam coward for crying out loud and – I take that back! Bite and bark all you want Butchie my man because sitting on a bench is the one and only Kai! Oh yippee! I'm so happy! I'm nearly crying with joy! I'm jumping up and down! Its just soooo great! Kai is here! Have you noticed the sarcasm yet? Or would you like me to continue? … Fine suit yourself –

"I was hoping you would come down this way"

Oh you mean this isn't accident, no! I AM SO happy! You came a whole hundred yards out the house to look for ME! You must be so tired after you oh so long travel down the road, you needn't have bothered as I was just coming but you've made my day coming to meet me and- oh this is my cue to talk. Hello bastard, Dickhead, knobhead why don't you give good old Boris a ring so he can use you for all his evil science experiments I'm sure the pain won't be that excruciating!

"Oh?"

Isn't it amazing how I can all those words into just one tiny syllable?

"Can you tell the dog to pack it in?" said Kai as Butchie proceeded to nip his legs with his sharp little teeth. Ha! You go Butchie; bite the bastard! If you want I can go and get a stool so you can bite him in the neck.

"Butchie!"

Butchie growls but backs off (pity). He doesn't like Kai and Kai doesn't like Butchie, Kai's more of a cat person unlike his best buddies Bryan and Tala who love Butchie and Butchie loves them. If it's love at first sight I'm sure I could give him to them as a present- oh no wait that's cruelty to animals, how could I give poor Butchie to Bryan and leave him to a fate like that when he's just been so good and bitten Kai on the knee.

"So why did you walk the **long** way from the house to this bench to see me?"

Kai ignores my emphasis and stands up "I wanted to tell you something but not in the house"

Wow! Care to elaborate? No wait! Let me guess. You finally saw sense and decided to let me kill Bryan, nah too much to hope for. Oohh what about you've decided that you're sorry for what you said the last time we met and you now know that I'm the only for you, well guess what buster it's too little too late! You want me well you can't-

"What did you want to tell me?" I love the way I can get straight to the point without **any** rambling.

Kai paused and thought for a moment, can we make this quick, I've got a hairdressers appointment next month.

"Look, I know you and I aren't the best of friends right now…" what on earth gave you that idea, was it the fact that I've imagined fifty different ways of killing you in ten minutes or the fact that I'm planning on buying a large chainsaw and then lock you, Bryan and Butchie's squeaky slipper in the same room with a camera in it so I can watch as Butchie's slipper can drive Bryan mad and he uses the chainsaw on everything thing and everyone in the room.

"…And I understand that we can't go back to the way we were not without one of us apologising and I can't see that happening…" you don't even know what an apology is, you probably think it's some kind of vegetable or something.

"…And that we've become kinda unofficially single…" are you doing what I think you're doing?

"So I was thinking we could make it official" finishes Kai softly…are you…dumping me? Kai looks away as his words sink into my brain. He is dumping me…after all I gave you…and you're dumping me! After all you said to me! And you're the one dumping me! Ha! This isn't happening! You…you…no way!

I look at him coldly "you don't need to make official" he looks at me "there's no one to officially dump!" there's a silence. Everything I gave you, Kai and you throw it back in my face. I hate you and everything and everyone you stand for.

I start to walk away but stop and look back

"By the way I've got nothing to apologize about and the day you realise that I was right and you were wrong will be the day that you'll suddenly realize what a fool you were!"

Kai's eyes widen slightly "you really hate me, don't you?" he sounds…surprised

"You didn't believe me Kai! And because of that I will never forgive you! You told me I was being a fool and just to stop! But I couldn't Kai because I wasn't being a fool and I'm still not being a fool because it's still happening! But no, I don't hate you. I'm angry with you but I don't hate you because if I hated you it would mean I would still feel something for you…and I don't"

Having nothing more to say I walk away leaving him there. Butchie follows tail held high. I think Butchie's actually growing on me. He's got guts, I don't understand that phrase because everyone has some sort of guts, it's part of the body. But anyway Butchie has guts, lets face it, it takes some sort of intestine to face Kai.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" I look up, ahhh! It's the wobble waddling woman! Coming right at me! Well alright I'm over reacting, it's just Mariah (what's she doing here?) but she's pregnant remember? And now she's put on a bit of weight…haha! I'm sorry I'm just going to have to get this out of my system! I wonder, what were would happen if we pushed her down the stairs? Would she bounce do you think? Haha! You got to admit, the image of Mariah bouncing down the stairs _is _pretty funny.

Right got that out of my system, back to the kind and calm and mature Ray – only thing is I've just been dumped.

* * *

"CAN YOU BELIEVE THE NERVE OF HIM? HE IS THE BIGGEST BASTARD EVER BORN! HE DEFINES THE MEANING OF BASTARDS! HE IS THE KING OF BASTARDS! HE THINKS I'M UPSET! I'M NOT UPSET! I'M NOT EVEN THINKING ABOUT HIM! I NEVER CARED ABOUT HIM EVER! HE IS THE KING OF THE DICKHEADS, HE'S KING OF THE BASTARDS, HE IS THE BIGGEST KNOBHEAD SINCE-"

Hilary, Mariah and Lee (who came with Mariah) all exchange doubtful looks.

"HE THINKS I'M GONNA SPEND MONTHS CRYING FOR HIM! WELL HE CAN THINK AGAIN! I DON'T NEED HIM! I DON'T WANT HIM! I NEVER WANTED HIM! I NEVER WILL WANT HIM! HE CAN GO FUCK HIMSE-"

"Ray!"

I stop as Hilary slaps me across the face and takes the drink out of my hand, yes people I have been drinking BUT it has nothing to do with the fact that Kai has dumped me AT ALL. At the moment me, Hilary, Mariah and Lee are all in the kitchen at home and for the past half hour I've been drinking and shouting about Kai, not that I'm thinking about him, let me rephrase that. I am not thinking about Kai, DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Anyway I'm not thinking about Kai, I'm shouting about Kai and that is totally different.

Flump

That was me falling over because I'm a lightweight when it comes to drinking.

Smack

That was me hitting my head on the hard fall; it's ok though because I can't feel pain when I'm drunk…ow. Ooh look over there, it's a pink Butchie, no; it's three pink Butchies. Greaaaaat a mixture of Mariah and Butchie, that's all I need and there's more than one.

"Ok boy" that was Lee grabbing the back of my head and pushing my face into a – ssssssssssppppppppppppplllllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuusssssssssshhhh – into a bucket of – sssssssssssssssssspppppppppppppplllllllllllluuuuuuuusssssssshhh- of water

"HE IS THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD WHO I sssssssssssspppppppppppllllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuuussssssssshhh REALLY HATE! EVEN BRYAN ssssssssssppppppppplllllllluuuuusssshhhhhhhh I LIKE MORE THAN I LIKE ssssssssssssssppppplllluuuuuuussssshhhh THAT SOME OF BITCH WHO THINKS I HAD ACTUALLY ssssssspppllluussshhh ok! Ok! I'm good"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, although I still say that Kai is the biggest sssssspppppllllllluuuusshh since the world was born and people think that Satan is God's worst enemy but he's not because Kai the pri-sssppppuuussshr is a bigger enemy of God because glug glug glug…"

Lee pulled my head out of the bucket of cold water and looked at me critically and then shoved my head back into the blub glug the bucket one final time before letting me up.

I gasped for air…need air…can't think without air…can't mouth off Kai without air…no air. Brrreeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaattttttthhhhhhh in and brrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhh out. In. out. In. out. In. out.

I turn to Mariah "why are you here anyway?"

She bits her lip, Lee looks down at the ground and Butchie barks…like that helps.

"Ray, um well to put it in a sentence um…" please don't tell me that they're going to tell me what I think they're going to tell me, no I can't handle this…not today, I've just been dump for crying out loud.

"Our elders want you to marry me" she says very quietly very aware of the very bad timing.

You know Bon Jovi once said in a Bryan Wilson world you always loose the girl. In a Ray Kon you just **can't** get rid of them! Fortunately I am saved from answering by my good old friend Bryan coming into the kitchen – what where 's your dear Tala? Breaking out on his own I guess.

I just can't be bothered with this at the moment so I just turned round and walk out the house. I am going for a walk all by myself and-

"Ray!" oh no, when will girls learn! I'm gay! Doesn't take a fucking genius. My new companion links her arm with mine; apparently it does take a genius. Remember my Landlord's daughter? This is her. I would tell you her name but I've forgotten it.

"Will you walk me to the gym?" she asks batting her eyelashes. Sure, if you don't mind not making it to the gym alive – oh god I'm starting to remind myself of Bryan. I smile

"Sure" just don't be surprised when you find yourself in front of a bus and I'm done for murder.

"So what have you been doing?" she asks in a high squeal

"Oh you know…" we pass Kai who has stopped on seeing me, I try to look him in the eye coldly but a pain grips my chest and I look away. Ray! Pull yourself together; you're being pathetic!

"Isn't he just sooo hot?" squealed my companion with a name I can't remember. Yeah…really good looking.

* * *

~Max's POV~

Food man! Food man! Da dada da! He's the one; you know when he's gone! Don't tell me I'm wrong! … Ding dong! And that's Max Tate running out of inspiration. I sighed and made myself more comfortable on the chair in the hallway. I'm waiting for Kai. We all heard Ray's semi drunk rant in the kitchen about how Kai dumped him but he 'doesn't care' so I want to know how come Kai did such a thing when yesterday he said he missed Ray or rather persuaded in to telling us that he missed Ray. He may have been persuaded in to telling us he missed Ray but he wasn't lying, you can tell, his eyes barely leave Ray. He's like a little boy who's lost his teddy. Anyway I'm waiting for Kai to come back, it's half six at night, he has to come back at some point. I've known Kai long enough that eventually he does come back. Emphasis on eventually. He is going explain himself and I – _finally_ Kai walks through the door now dripping wet as it's raining outside.

I leap on him rugby tackling him to the ground and grabbing his feet to stop him running away.

Well that's how I planned it in my mind. Here's what actually happened: I leaped at Kai, Kai saw me coming and took one step to the left meaning I went flying only to be caught by Kai and thrown back.

I sit up as Kai makes his way to the kitchen. Hmm so Kai is going to act difficult. I need help, someone smart, someone who knows how to capture Kai, someone who knows how to create clever plans that never fail to work, someone who Kai listens to…Tyson?

Tyson comes to my side and we nod at each other getting ready to dive bomb Kai.

Wow Tyson! Great tackle, brilliant rugby technique, wonderful speed, amazing element of surprise. One tiny thing you did get wrong however, it's only small but err the one thing you wrong was… I'M NOT KAI!

After giving me an apologetic (not enough in my opinion) grin Tyson got off me and we both faced Kai who we have accidentally blocked from his destination – the kitchen.

Kai looks at us. We looked at him. Me and Tyson dived on Kai- or try to and fail as Kai calmly takes one step back and we both crashed to the floor only to have 'dear sweet little' Butchie sit on top of us the squeaky slipper in mouth.

"Go away" says Kai stepping over Tyson's feet and heads to the kitchen. Hey get back here you! I'm not finished with you yet!

I drag myself from under Tyson and run after Kai catching up with him in the kitchen while he gets a coffee (oh! I haven't had coffee for a whole half hour!)

"No!" I insist snatching Kai's coffee from him and gulping some down, normally I wouldn't do something that suicidal but my need for coffee is great. Kai glares at me but I dive behind Tyson and the kitchen table, not much of a barrier I know but Kai is actually quite lazy if you ignore the obsessive need to keep his body in shape. So all I have to suffer is a death by glare look which in its own way is pretty dam scary. Imagine the angriest person you've ever met, times that by one thousand, add a row of noughts and you are no where near the sheer intensity of the glare that I got from Kai.

"What do you want anyway?" says Kai with a sigh whilst making another a coffee. I don't know why he's asking; he always knows what we want. "Apart from a therapist and brain transplant" continues Kai as he sits at the table and pushes Butchie away with his foot completely ignoring Tyson's look of indignation at the lack of respect for his precious mangy mutt who in my opinion needs to be re-homed somewhere where people will respect him more…a field of cows for example.

"We want to know why you've dumped Ray after saying the night before that you miss him" I say swigging down the last of my – or Kai's – coffee and burning my tongue in the process.

"You wanna know that huh?" says Kai pushing Butchie away again

"We do" I said also pushing Butchie away

"We do?" asks Tyson as he lets Butchie on to his knee, he then squeaked in indignation as me and Kai both push Butchie off the table.

* * *

What do you think? good? bad? totally awful? worthy of a flaming? do tell!

see ya next time

Kiki

P.s i'm sorry for any spelling, grammatical or general mistakes. I haven't checked through it in a while but there shouldn't be many...hopefully.


	3. Chapter 3

heya peeps! thanks for the reveiws!

Disclaimer: i don't own beyblade

now, can Max and Tyson get anything out of Kai? ...most likely not!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter three**

~Max's POV~

"Well" I ask once Kai has put (see: thrown) Butchie outside ignoring Tyson's protests and after Kai has taken the backdoor key off Tyson in Tyson's bid to 'free Butchie from his terrible imprisonment' "why have you dumped Ray when you love him so much?"

"Yeah, don't make any sense Kai," agree Tyson while trying to creep towards Kai's pocket where he's put the backdoor key "you need to get back with him!"

"I thought you hated the idea of gay people together" said Kai almost irritated (a clue we're getting to him)

"Yeah but if you get back with Ray, then Ray can move in with you and I can have Ray's room"

"I am **not** getting back with Ray just so you can another room to screw Hilary in!" snapped Kai

"Oh well it was worth a try Maxie" said Tyson standing up "but I guess we should just call them a lost cause"

"Tyson! I did not ask Kai why he dumped Ray in the hopes of getting them back together just so you can have the spare room!" I said indignantly

"No" said Kai with another sigh "you asked me why I dumped Ray in the hope of getting us back together so **you** could have the spare room so you and Emily could screw each other"

He's got me there!

I grin and Tyson snigger as Kai rolls his eyes at the pair of us. Hey, what can I say? We're crowded in here, any chance of getting more room is not a thing to be sniffed at, on the other hand Tyson's cologne is…just don't go there!

"So my motives weren't honourable" although if I dress as a knight Emily may just disagree, I said "I still want to know"

It's none of your business; I bet you he'll say that

"It's none of your business"

Oh I am SO good! "Of course not but when did that stop us?" he can't deny me that one

"It probably won't until I send you to A & E" dam he's good!

"I'll set Butchie on you" I warn "you don't tell me and I'll make Butchie chase you from here to Kingdom Come"

"You do that and I'll make Bryan chase you to the pits of hell" …how come this guy has a response for **everything**? Let's test this.

"I'll get Tyson to call Bryan stupid" I try

"No you won't" says Kai

"No! You **won't**!" agrees Tyson fervently

"**I'll** call Bryan stupid" I say

…

"It's not funny!" I say huffily folding my arms "I could do it!"

"You?" laughs Tyson "you're not brave enough!"

"Says the guy who put the police on standby on the day Bryan came round" I retort, ha! In your face! Kai gives Tyson one of his raised eyebrows expressions. Tyson spluttered something that wasn't necessarily of this world or galaxy, blames us both for judging him and walks off in a none too huffy style. Me and Kai both wait for a moment both mentally counting to ten.

"TYSON! WILL YOU WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING?" as soon as we hear Hilary's none too musical vocal cords I turned to Kai.

"Come on Kai" I implore "I know you still want_"

Kai stands up (wow I knew he had a short fuse but I didn't know it was minuscule)

"Look! I dumped Ray because I know longer have any feelings for him whatsoever"

"I don't believe you" I answer back "you were miserable when me and Hil talked to you"

"I had just been slapped in the face"

"Enough with the back chat Kai! Just tell me! I won't tell anyone! But why leave Ray!" come on man! Open up to me! I am your confidant! Kai doesn't answer but he does sit down again though possibly just to finish his coffee.

I try a different angle "well at least tell me why you two fought in the first place"

"We had a fight" says Kai

"I know that! Everyone does! But no one knows what about! Just tell me why?"

…

You know what I think…I think that Kai has this built in system that encourages him to as cagey as possible just to annoy me. "Come on! Tell me!" I beseech him,

"No"

I love this guy! I do! But sometimes…you just want to…ah! Do something very painful like twist his head from his neck with your bare hands! … I think Bryan is having a bad effect on me.

"At least tell me something!" I plead as if the day won't be right unless Kai reveals **something** to me.

"Alright" concedes Kai, at last! Progress! He points to the empty mug of coffee in my hand "that coffee, was decafe"

Ha! I knew he would tell me some- wait! Decafe! I had decafe coffee! OMG! Nnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooooo! I'm poisoned! No! No! No! No! No! I can feel it melting my insides!

"And you want to know something else?" Kai stands up "Tyson has just run in to Bryan and to get himself out of trouble has told Bryan that you called Bryan stupid"

It's melting me inside! I'm going_ uh oh! Warning bells! Ding – a –ling – a -ling! Bryan enters the kitchen looking like a thunder storm on drugs. Ding-ding-ding!

"Bryan-Bryan!" I give him my super sweet _I never called you stupid_ puppy face.

He snarls.

"Now Bryan, lets be grown-up about this" I say/plead. Bryan answers me by coming up to me and picking me up by the collar his eyes narrowing dangerously. Err Kai? Little help buddy…please? Kai being my good pal leans against the sideboard totally ignoring us.

Err God, I know you're probably not talking to me because I said I'd join a convent and I didn't and I understand that you're probably angry with me…but I swear I will join if you just send a little bolt of lighting down and hit Bryan.

"Apologise" snarls Bryan

"I'm sorry"

Bryan smirks "you're going to beg"

Am I hell! I shall not sink so low! I fold my arms stubbornly. Kai smirks.

Ten minutes later

"I am so sorry" I say "I plead for your forgiveness, you are right, it was thoughtless of me, I beg for your forgiveness"

Now I'm sure you know about the place in which I live but what you may not know about is the building that across the road. It's an office block and possibly is thirty floors tall. And what is between me and a thirty storey drop is Bryan's hand still gripping my collar. So as you can see in order for me to live, and believe me I've taken everything in to account, I have decided that all things considered: begging is necessary, **very** necessary!

My dear friend Kai has followed us up but so far he hasn't actually stopped Bryan yet, I look at him beseechingly pulling my best puppy face…Kai leans against the wall. Where's Tyson when you need him? Honestly most of the time you can't get rid of him but when you actually need him to distract Bryan he scarpers. Ok Max, last plan

"It was Tyson! It was Tyson!" I scream, "he made me do it!"

This has little effect.

In fact the only effect it did have was…Bryan smiled. Ugh! Evil son of a bitch! Hate him! Wah! Get me outta here!

"I'll buy you a present" I try

"Like I'm gonna want a present from you" sneers Bryan

"Look, I am really sorry. I beg you to forgive me"

Bryan pushes me just slightly further over the edge.

"Please let me go! I won't ever do anything like that again!"

"Let you go" Bryan smirked "alright"

He started to loosen his grip. Ah no! Not what I meant! I meant on the ground!

"Ah! Kai! Help! Please!" I clasp my hands together in silent prayer "oh god please help me! I swear to you I will join a convent and I'll forever be good and I'll never sin!" ok so not so silent.

"Let him go" said a voice behind Bryan.

We stopped in slight surprise and Kai stood straight as Ray came from behind a chimney type thingy (what? I dunno what it is, Ray came out from behind it anyway), Ray stood there waiting for Bryan to do what he said, when Bryan doesn't he repeats.

"Let him go"

Bryan shrugs and loosens his grip again. Ah no! On land you fool! On land! Ray comes over and grabs Bryan's arm pulling him back and- OMG I just called Bryan a fool in my mind! … I am forever doomed! … God, I know you hate me but please-

I yelp as Bryan lets me go…over the edge of the building.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…"

My voice dies off as I realise that I can't feel any air rushing past…ah! Everything's gone black! I can't see! No! I blind!

"I can't see!" I squeal, Bryan's made me blind!

"Open your eyes" comes Ray's calm voice

I opened them to look in to the golden eyes of Ray Kon, aw he's been crying! Or rather he looks like he's been trying not to cry, him being a guy and guys don't cry except me but I'm just like that. I get emotional at anything.

Ok this is totally inappropriate but Ray looks so cute when he's been crying or trying not to. His eyes sparkle with tears and his little nose goes slightly red. Aw! I don't know if Kai has seen this but I hope he's ashamed of himself, poor Ray looks like he's been really beating himself up.

Ray pulls me back on to the top of the building and I brush my self down, I don't know why, I'm not exactly dusty. I mean, think about it; why do people brush themselves down? Tala for example is forever brushing himself down but that's mainly because Butchie covering him with hair. Anyway I digress, back to the story…hey! Stop sighing with relief!

"Are you alright?" asks Ray quietly either completely ignoring Kai and Bryan or totally oblivious their presence, I'm kinda leaning towards the first.

"Sure!" it's not like I haven't fallen down a massive drop before, it's just my favourite pastime! I love the feeling of OMG I am going to die! (In case you're wondering…yeah I'm being sarcastic).

Ray nods and goes back behind the chimney type thingy (it's not like falling to my death has made me knowledgeable in all things chimney like) still ignoring Kai and Bryan; Bryan glares at Ray, yes he does hate Ray but he'd rather Ray made some comment about him than just completely ignoring him…and Kai?

Kai looks at Ray and looks…away! How could he be so…so heartless? No one could be that cold…and Kai proves me wrong by being even colder.

He turns and walks away back down the steps leaving me and Bryan alone, I see Ray's face from behind the Chimney thingy, and he looks heartbroken. Err did I just say Kai left me on my own with Bryan? Kai? Ray? Help? … God? Ray? Sorry God but it seems to me that you being up in that clouds and all it would take you longer to get down here and Ray's just behind that chimney thingy and therefore I would prefer Ray's help but please, don't take that personally.

Somewhere in the far distant thunder rolls in among the clouds…it's great to know that God did not take that personally.

* * *

~Ray's POV~

I sit behind the chimney wallowing in my misery as I listen to Kai's footsteps going back down the steps. How did I, Ray Kon, end up like this? Pining over a son of bitch who treats me like shit! He used me, abused me and then made sure he'd loose me. Wow, I could get a grade A with my poetry skills. How did Kai do this to me? When did I start to love him so much? Why didn't he believe me? Why did he dump me so coldly? Does he really not care anymore? Did I do something wrong? When- AH! Enough with the dam questions! They keep circling round my head like a dam Merry Go Round…and why on earth did I compare my head to a fricking Merry Go Round?

At this stage I would like to point out that I have not been crying. At all, in any way, shape, or form…well maybe just one tear…or two…ok so I cried the grand total of four tears! … Maybe it was five…six? Ok! Ok! I admit it; I cried the total of ten tears…alright! I give up on lying! I've been crying my eyes out!

What do you want? A medal!

Yeah! So I've been crying like a frigging baby! I didn't mean to! It was an accident!

In my misery I have come up with two alternatives that I could have done with my life.

One: let Egan keep my body, it wasn't that bad being a ghost thing and at least at the time Kai still cared about me

Two: I should have stayed with Paul. That way Kai would have forever been secretly in love with me and also I would have been happy because Paul, was so in awe all the time that he was actually dating 'the one and only' Ray Kon, and would never do anything to make me annoyed let alone heartbroken.

Had I done either of those options I wouldn't be here right now trying to stem the flow of the eighth sea.

And you know the worst thing; all this pain is worth it because I actually got to spend sometime with the grand Hiwatari. I'm going through this pain and yet I don't care because for a year and a bit I was with someone I really cared about…that's the part that really kills me.

And you know something else that hurts, Kai doesn't seem to even notice my existence anymore. I wonder if- a scream stops my thoughts.

* * *

~Max's POV~

Oh my God I, Max Tate, have been left on my own with none other than Bryan Kuznetsov. I am going to die. Bryan for his part as has wholly forgotten my existence and is texting on his phone. What should I do? Run away really quickly? Or stand still until he goes first? Or I could stand my ground and fight to the death. Hmm flight or fight?

Flight any day!

Now the question is do I run now or later? Bryan meantime has suddenly realised I'm still here and looks at me…

AAHHH! Run away!

I scream and run behind the chimney thingy to find Ray sitting with his back against giving me a look that says something which I find quite insulting and totally untrue.

"He threatened me with a knife" I tell Ray, untrue I know but it's better than saying I ran away because the guy looked at me.

Ray nods as if to say 'I really don't believe you but I'm going to let you get away with it mainly because I've just been dumped and I really couldn't give a crap about how much of a coward you are'. He's not in the best of moods then.

"Ray"

"Hm?"

"Why did you and Kai fight?" I know I should probably be subtle about this but you're forgetting; I live with Tyson who is going out with Hilary and trust me, being subtle is not their greatest skill. That scream that just sounded thirty floors down just proves my point.

"No reason" says Ray quietly. Liar.

"Tell me Ray, I'm worried about you" I sit down beside him

"Why? Because I'm sitting metres away from a thirty storey drop?"

"No, because you just missed a chance to insult Bryan and I know you don't want to leave this world without telling him he's a bastard"

Ray gives a small 'that's not the best joke you've come up with and you're not really cheering me up because I'm still in the mood for jumping off a thirty storey building' smile.

"Do you just want me to leave you alone?" I ask because I'm sensitive, that and Ray couldn't say 'fuck off' any clearer if he said the actual words

"Thanks" says Ray

"Are you coming out tonight?"

"Yeah" I look at him surprised "well I wouldn't want Kai thinking I was in love with him so I'm going to flirt with every guy I come across" …ok, I suppose this is just Ray's way of getting over the shock…that or he just wants to make Kai jealous (I'm leaning towards the second)

I get up and begin to walk away.

"Egan's back"

I sin round to look at Ray horrified "WHAT?"

"Egan's back" says Ray in the same quiet voice "I saw him a few weeks ago but Kai doesn't believe me. That's why we fought…and why we're no longer together"

World is looking a lot more dangerous now…

* * *

OO Egan is BACK! NO! What do you think? good? bad? in-between?

until next time

Kiki


	4. Chapter 4

Hey People! Man, I am having trouble with my fics! I can't finish one chapter without getting bored! It took me more than five hours to finish this what with me getting distracted with other things, then I read a little and decided I didn't like it so I rewrote that part, then my computer started acting up, then I got distracted with another story but got bored of that too and forced myself back here. That's the curse of writer's block I suppose...

Still, here we are! I was nearly at screaming point but I finished this chapter! Woo! Hopefully it's ok but that's for you guys to tell me. Please say if there are any mistakes, I've been through this one so many times the words just blurred together; words that I spelt just didn't look right and by the end of it I just wanted to quit the chapter but I hope that doesn't show through the work.

By the way, thanks to everyone who has reviewed this fiction! May you continue to do so as you bring much joy and happiness! I love you all so thank you thank you thank you for your reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade nor any of its characters. Any characters you do not recognise are most llikely mine which is a little pointless to say four chapters in but hey, better late than never.

So, please read the chapter and tell me your thoughts. Hope you enjoy reading it because, to be frank, it was a real bugger to write ;)

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter Four**

~ Ray's POV ~

And I sit in a club on my own at the bar while the rest of my friends are having a whale of a time…yippee. Even Kai's with someone, Tala and Bryan to be exact; they're sitting over there in the corner talking about something in Russian and Kai isn't even looking at me, hasn't looked at me all night. Tyson and Hilary are having a fight over there while Max and Kenny have a drinking competition to see who is the first to pass out. Looser has to do a handstand for two hours straight, how they're supposed to do a handstand while they're unconscious I don't know but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. Lee and Mariah are at home, well Mariah's at home. The last time I checked Lee, he was fleeing from Butchie and the one and only Butchie slipper. I won't torture you with what Daichi is doing but put it this way if that girl doesn't run away to hang herself then I've seriously underestimated the opposite sex.

"Another one?" asks the guy at the bar pointing at my glass which isn't even empty yet, money grubbing bastard. I shake my head and rest my head in my hand with my elbow leaning on the bar. Watching Kai is what you would call a deadly occupation, usually he knows when someone is watching but in here it's so crowded not even his senses can feel anything. But while you're staring at Kai with a rather pathetic longing expression you're not watching the tiny space around and bam! I'm knocked off my stool by a huge guy with blonde hair; picture Brad Pitt with brown eyes and a fluorescent green top on matched with bright yellow trousers. Ouch? My feelings exactly.

The guy looks down at me "oh sorry man, didn't see you there" evidently.

I stand up and sit back on my stool (if I sit on it any longer I'll have to carve my name in to the side) while he sits on the one next to me and after ordering something sickly pink and downing it he turns to me.

"Bad night?" he enquires

"I prefer to see it as not my best" I answer glancing back over at Kai

"Same here" says the guy "man! Don't you just hate when the person you want doesn't want you?"

"Tell me about it" I say, I'm not actually listening to what he's saying but he doesn't strike me as the type of guy who cares whether you're actually listening, just as long as you're there.

"See, I've been seeing this girl or rather I've been trying to see this girl"

At last! Kai has looked over at me! … And seen me talking to a Brad Pitt look-alike, greeeeeaaaat timing Kon, Kai's just seen you with another guy who is good looking if a little scary when it comes to dress sense.

"Only thing is this girl is mad about another boy, one I could never compete against" continues the guy totally unaware that my ex is now under the impression that I like fluorescent green…oh the lord hates me.

"Why can't you compete against the guy?" I ask, maybe if I talk to this guy Kai will get insanely jealous and take me away…yeah, I know, it's a long shot but I'm running out of ideas.

"Because he's famous" answers the guy dully

"What do you mean famous? Who is he?" oh God, his girlfriend's going to turn out to be one of those freaky fans, the ones who throw their bras at you.

"His name's Ray Kon" hey I know someone called Ray Kon! Oh yeah, me, duh! I never knew there was another famous person called Ray Kon, thief! He stole my name.

"He's a top beyblader" and he's stolen what I do best, I tell you if this new Ray Kon lays one finger on Kai I'll rip him to shreds.

"Well if your girlfriend is just a fan then she'll get over it" I say comfortingly

"She's not a fan though," sighed the guy "she's his friend, she's a top blader too you see"

I wonder if I know her "really? Who is she?"

"She's called Mariah" wow! That is incredible, not only is there a guy called Ray Kon but he also has a friend called Mariah, you know, if I didn't know better I'd say this guy was talking about me…oh. I bet you never knew I could be so slow did you? My excuse is that concentrating on Kai usually numbs my senses, that and a couple of drinks which maybe I shouldn't have had.

"Does she say he feels the same?" I ask trying to hide my long plaited hair and failing

"She says he doesn't but she just can't give up on him"

"Oh" I say or rather squeak rather pathetically

"I swear if I ever meet Ray Kon, I'll punch his lights out!" growls the guy. Stay very still, if he doesn't notice the red bandana on your head that you're so famous for and if he doesn't notice you've got golden eyes and raven black hair then you'll be fine. This sounds like a long shot too doesn't it? I might as well just ask the guy to hit me. An angry look comes in his ice blue eyes and he slams down his glass.

"Fucking bastard! He isn't even worthy to lick the ground at Kai's feet!"

Kai? Where did that come from? Wait a minute; didn't I just say that this guy had brown eyes? Why are his eyes suddenly so blue? Blue? Almost like…

"Egan!" I gasp

The guy turns to me giving me a cruel smile that is unmistakably Egan's

"Like my new body Ray? I thought this guy was quite a catch, and don't you think it's really ironic that I found the father of Mariah's baby" his voice has changed, it sounds like Egan and his eyes are like Egan's.

"Give that guy his body back!" I growl "you have no right taking it from him!"

Egan shrugged, already there are more changes, his hair is now Egan's style and his body is less buff "I need to use him, he is strong"

"Let him go!" I get off my stool but backing away is fairly impossible, I glance around; Tyson and Hilary are still fighting, both Max and Kenny have passed out on their heads and Kai is still talking with Tala and Bryan and not looking at me and Daichi…don't make me go there! "What do you want Egan?"

"Interesting question" ponders Egan "simple answer: I want you dead" he gives me a long evil look which, I won't lie, is scaring me "you took away my chance of having a second life!" snarls Egan "you took away my chance of having a body!"

"It's my body!" I growl back, I've lost this body once and I am not loosing it again "and if you remember it wasn't me who got it back, Tyson helped remember?" you must all think I'm a coward to let Tyson get the brunt of Egan's fury but if Egan goes over to Tyson now he'll be torn in to shreds within seconds.

"Wrong!" Egan glares at me "none of them would have even tried to get your body back if you and Kai hadn't been so lovey dovey! If Kai wasn't head over heels for you I'd still be in that body! And if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have lost the knife!"

"Kai destroyed the knife, Kai got my body back with the help of Max" I say "all I did was do a little ghostly flirting and run around like a headless chicken"

"Max only did what Kai told him to do!" Egan answers back "and Kai only did what he did because he was mad about you!"

I stare at him "is that what this is all about? Communal garden jealousy? You want Kai but he wants me, is that why you hate me?"

"I don't even know what he sees in you!" snarls Egan, guess I'm right then

"Absolutely nothing at all" my heart hurts, is that normal? "You can have him, because I'm the last person he wants" why does saying that hurt so much? Surely I didn't love Kai that much? According to Kenny no one finds their true love until their three minutes from dieing (shows he's going to be virgin for the rest of his days doesn't it) so why does saying out loud that Kai doesn't want me hurt so much? Do I really want Kai back that much? Did I like being in his arms that much?

I'm answered by a fist diving in to my stomach and sending me crashing backwards in to the person behind me who naturally lets me fall to the ground like the nice kind caring person he is. Surprised I look up to see Egan towering above me, I don't even have time to move as he brings his boot (bright baby blue in colour) up and crushes it in to my rib cage. I try to fight back but the guy who Egan is borrowing the body from was a big guy and even though he's changing in to Egan all the time, he's still bigger and, I have to say it, stronger than me. I try to crawl away from the tirade of feet that Egan unleashes on me but people are everywhere and they're turning, cheering, jeering as the chant "FIGHT! FIGHT!" becomes louder. I manage to bring Egan crashing to the ground but he's up like a flash of light and sends me crashing in to the bar. Cold hard glass strikes around my head as Egan brings his glass against my temple so forcefully the glass smashes. Why is no one seeing that I'm in trouble? All I can see around me as I fight back is people laughing and placing bets, where's Kai gone? Does he really not even see us as friends? Has he really stopped caring about altogether? Tears well up in my eyes making it difficult to see and I don't even predict the fist that connects with my head sending me flying back.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I hear Kai's voice and someone catches me as Bryan appears out of nowhere kicking Egan in the stomach and sending Egan flying.

"Come with me" Kai whispers in my ear and he puts me on my feet, a feeling of overwhelming dizziness fills my head and I fall back against him feeling sick.

* * *

I open my eyes to find I'm in Kai's car "where are we going?" I mumble as I clutch my head which, pardon my language, fucking well hurts!

"To the hospital" says Kai "I don't like the look of that gash on your temple"

I wince as my fingers connect with pain and blood on the side of my head. Oh boy, this really hasn't been my day, forget that; this hasn't been my _month_!

"How do you feel?" asks Kai

"Like my head has been crushed by the arse of an elephant" I answer, an overweight elephant at that. Dam, that Egan can pack a punch.

"We'll see what the doctor says"

We're silent as Kai drives; looking out the window it suddenly occurs to me that Kai probably thinks I've got involved in some kinda club brawl. Should I tell him it was Egan? He didn't believe me last time so why should he now? More to the point if Kai thinks it was a club brawl then why did he get involved? If we're not together anymore then why should Kai even care about me? I just have to know.

"Why did you get involved?" I ask quietly staring determinedly out the window

"I had to do something before Tyson got himself involved and became more of an idiot than you" answers Kai almost breaking my heart with his words. I'd forgotten he could be so cold and unfeeling, is that really the reason why he interfered? To stop Tyson getting hurt? What about me? Does he really not care about me at all? That's cold, even for Kai.

"Stop the car" I whisper

"What?"

"Stop the car" I say again trying not to keep the desperation out of my voice, if Kai really doesn't care about me anymore then I don't see any reason why I should bother him with my presence.

"Why?" asks Kai

"Because I don't want to jump out when it's still moving!" I snap unable to keep the hurt from my voice "just stop the dam car!"

Kai pulls up and I get out, walking up the street to where I think the hospital is.

"Where are you going?" Kai asks and I hear him get out and lock his car "Ray!"

"I don't want to be a bother to you!" I gabble, "I can make my way to the hospital just fine!"

"Ray! Ray!" Kai follows after me; grabbing my arm and spinning me round "just stop for a minute!"

I can't look at him, there's a lump in my throat but I will not show him I'm hurt! I'm stronger than that. Pulling myself together I say calmly "I don't need your help" turning round again I walk off in the direction of the hospital.

"Ray, get back in the car" Kai follows me

"I don't need your help!" huh usually it's Kai insisting he doesn't need help, how times change?

"Ray, you might not even make it to the hospital, we don't know the extent of the head injury"

"I'm fine!" I turn up at street and walk away

"Ray!"

"Go away Kai!"

"Just listen for two moments!"

"I don't need your help!"

"Ray! The hospital is the other way!"

Stopping I look at a sign and see that he is right and indeed the hospital is in other direction. Trust me to get something stupidly wrong when I want to act clever and strong. Sighing viciously I turn and walk doggedly past Kai but he stops me.

"Stay for a moment" he whispers and pulling out a tissue gently dabs the blood away from my temple. How can he be so heartless and then so tender? Talk about black and white, maybe he's the one who needs the ying and yang sign.

"Why are you even doing this?" I ask, "we're not together anymore, you…you don't need to care about me"

Kai ignores me (prick head) but checks a bruise I have obtained on my cheek, he lightly brushes his thumb against it like he used to do when he cared about me.

"You still need to see a doctor" he says quietly "but I don't think there's anything major injuries" oh _**sure**_! It's not like a broken heart is a big deal! Yeah, I'm just fan-bloody-tastic! Look! I can hop and jump and even do the shimmy! Therefore I'm in the peak of health! … Just to let you know I'm not actually doing the shimmy in the middle of a high street, that would just be strange.

"Good" I say, should I tell him it was Egan who did this to me? Will it only get us in to another fight? Why didn't he believe me before? I've never lied to him, well…never seriously lied to him anyway. So it was me who broke the very precious vase in his mansion in Russia but he need never know that, who needs vases anyway? I don't, Kai doesn't even put flowers in them, what's the point of them if he doesn't even us them? Anyway I digress. Can he really just stop believing me? Did I do something wrong? What was it?

What did I do wrong Kai? Did I make you angry?

"Are you coming back to the car?" asks Kai "or are you still determined to walk to the hospital?"

"I don't want to bother you" I mutter "I've already taken up most of your night, sorry"

Kai looks at me with finally some kind of expression on his face but what it is I have absolutely no idea. Maybe the knock on the head really did effect me because the look on his face is so expressive but I just can't read it. I can always read Kai's expressions, usually because it's nothing more than a small frown as he looks upon us all with a mixture of shame and embarrassment, that's when he wasn't trying to run away from us which was most of the time. I still remember the time Max and Tyson had competition to see who could snort out the most snot in the middle of town square; Kai didn't talk to any of us for a week. And then there was the time Max's mum Judy came round along with Emily. Max kept calling them mumsie and muffin cake; Kai spent the whole day outside in the rain and refused to even accept a drink of coffee from the 'mad one' as he named Max.

"You could never be a bother to me" whispers Kai so quietly I almost miss what he says. Suddenly I want him back so much I almost can't breathe, I don't care that he hurt me, I don't care that he doesn't want me, all I want is for him to kiss me and say it's alright, I want him to make me feel safe.

"Kai I-"

"Kai!" Tala comes out of nowhere and spectacularly ruins my entire speech "there you are"

"Where's Bryan?" asks Kai turning to Tala as if I no longer exist

"Getting arrested" answers Tala as if Bryan has merely popped off to the shop to get milk

"What for?" Kai looks slightly alarmed

"For almost killing someone" oh **yeah**, that's not serious at all. I don't even know why I'm worried…wait why am I worried? I hate Bryan. And if he's going to prison then yay! I will never have to set eyes on his ugly mug ever again!

"Is he ok?" asks Tala indicating me

Kai nods "he still needs to go to the hospital" oh don't mind me, I'll just stand here while you all decide my fate.

"Want me to take him?" asks Tala

Say no Kai "do you mind?" asks Kai, hello? I mind!

Tala shakes his head and says something Russian, Kai nods and Tala says something else. Has no one told them how rude it is to ignore someone?

Kai turns to me "Ray-"

"Oh! You've noticed I'm here! I am honoured!" seriously I have been going out with Kai too long! I never used to be so sarcastic before I met him.

"Tala's going to accompany you to the hospital-"

"Don't bother!" I snap, "why don't the pair of you go and visit Bryan in his little prison cell! Better still join him!" with that I turn on my heel and walk away…then turn round again to walk to the hospital. Tala says something in Russian which I'm sure wasn't how nice the weather has been lately. This angers me more and I turn back to snarl

"And while you're about it, go find Egan and invite him to rot in a cell along with you!"

This comment had two effects, one: Kai glares at me and two: Tala goes as white as a sheet.

"Ray shut up!" snaps Kai "I told you before! Egan hasn't come back! You were mistaken last time!"

Anger bubbles out of me and I shout "FUCK YOU HIWATARI! IT WAS EGAN AND I KNOW IT WAS! SO DON'T YOU DARE SUGGEST MY EYESIGHT NEEDS CHECKING!"

"Ray, it can't have been Egan because Egan is dead!" says Kai though gritted teeth

"HE WAS DEAD THE FIRST TIME I MET HIM!" I yell "I THOUGHT THAT WAS THE REASON HE TOOK MY BODY! REMEMBER THAT KAI?"

"Yes that was why Egan took your body! But he hasn't come back!" Kai's snarling now, that means he's really angry. You can always measure the level of anger by the way the person acts. So for example the louder I get the angrier I am whereas on the other hand whenever Kai is angry his voice turns to a hiss.

"WHY WON'T YOU BELIEVE ME?" I wasn't wrong! I know I wasn't wrong! And just now, in the club, that was definitely Egan. I know it was.

"You were wrong! I don't know why you can't accept that but you were wrong Ray!"

That does it. I fly at Kai driving my fist in to the first part of his body that comes in to contact. His chest. Not wise Kon, you know Kai's chest is harder than a diamond. My eyes fill with tears with pain from punching Kai but lets pretend it's because I'm heartbroken.

"Why don't you believe me?" I whisper and then I'm gone, running through the streets, past cars, past houses, people, dogs, cats, a clown? I don't stop; I just keep running. I don't know why I'm running and I have no idea where I'm running to but all I know is that I'm running. That old lady I've just ploughed in to also knows I'm running.

I think for a fleeting moment that I hear someone call my name but I ignore it and carry on running. I keep running until I can't breathe anymore and my legs are so dead they're not even keeping me upright, whoa! Like I said, they're not even keeping me upright.

* * *

I find myself by the river under the bridge; it's the one where we always used to come. Whenever we were training or wanted to talk we would always invade Tyson's house or here. I think Kai even fought with Dunga under this bridge, good times huh. When friends were friends and a burger was a burger and not an unhealthy slab of bread with fake meat shoved in the middle. When the most complicated thing we had to figure out was how to get Tyson out of bed in time for a beybattle. When the only thing I worried about was not getting my hair caught in the toaster. Good times, Kai and I were just friends and the only thing we did together was run away as fast as we could whenever grandpa brought the scissors out. We used to come here and sit down and talk for hours; I guess that's how we both fell in love with each other. Kai would always loosen up at little and we would talk about all sorts of things; how many different ways Kai could kill Tyson for example, or taking bets on who would find us first. Kai always said it would be Hilary and I always said it would be Max. As it turned out we were both wrong when half an hour later Tyson came over the hill bellowing for us, tripped over his own feet and came crashing down on top of us. I remember Kai talked about the Abbey once, it's not something you can usually get him to talk about but that day he did.

He never spoke of the violence they must have endured in that place but he spoke of the things Boris had drilled in to them. That loosing was a sign of weakness, that showing feelings and emotions only meant that people could control you. Love didn't exist; the only good emotion was hate. Even anger was forbidden because when in the heat of anger you could loose control. You didn't have friends in that place you just had teammates who all followed the team captain. I remember he went very quiet after that as if surprised he'd said so much, I remember wanting to say something that would…ease the emotion that was swirling around his brain. And I came up with something really good but was unable to tell Kai because at that point Tyson poured a bucket of water on us.

The one time we both let our guard down, needless to say Tyson paid dearly for his moment of sneakiness. But he still maintained that it was worth it even when he hung upside down from the roof with a bunch of grapes just out of reach.

I remember thinking on that day (as I carefully cut Tyson down well I tried to anyway, he ended up falling on his head and spent a week in hospital with concussion. I swear Kai has never been so proud of me), I remember thinking on that day that it must have taken a lot for Kai to open up to me like that and I wanted to tell him that I appreciated his trust in me…but that was when Tyson fell on his head and obviously after that I was a little panicky that I'd killed Tyson Granger one and only world champion for three years running. I sat in the hospital for almost two days with my hands together in silent prayer and nothing and no one would move me. One of the doctors became so used to me being here he hung his coat on me and used me as his umbrella stand…until Kai put a stop to that. I believe the doctor is still in an institute but I don't think it's long before he's released.

Footsteps behind me bring me out of my reverie and I turn to see Tala coming towards me, surprised I wait for him to reach me. He stands in front of me for a moment.

"I want you to promise me something" he says

"What?" I ask completely at a loss as to what he wants with me

"I want you to promise that the answer you give to my question will be the truth and nothing but the truth" does he want me to appear in court in the case of attempted murder by Bryan Kuznetsov? Ooh I would love to tell the judge that I saw Bryan seriously hurt someone, gruesome of me isn't it?

"Alright" I agree feeling there's a reason why I shouldn't be agreeing to this

"I want you to promise" says Tala

"Ok I-"

"Tala!" Kai appears over the hill, the side of his face is bleeding and it looks like he's trying not to limp. That wasn't me was it? I think I hurt myself more than I hurt Kai. I look back at Tala, there's a cold look in his eyes that reminds me of Egan and for the first time I can believe that Egan is the younger brother of Tala. I take a step back.

"Leave him alone Tala!" says Kai "it's not his fault!"

"Promise me!" hisses Tala

"What am I promising to Tala?" I ask taking a step back but I walk in to something hard. Looking round I see Bryan standing there blocking my escape, evidently the authorities didn't have enough evidence to keep him "Kai!" I don't feel safe, I felt safer when Egan was trying to kill me in the club.

"Leave him alone!" Kai walks slowly towards us "it's not his fault!"

"Was that Egan who tried to kill you in the club?" demands Tala

"I thought you didn't believe me!" I say. I glance back at Kai who is coming up behind Tala. What happened to him? Who hurt him? Surely it wasn't Tala and Bryan, I know they're violent towards others but they would never hurt Kai…would they?

"Just answer the question Kon!" snarls Tala

"Yes!" I say "alright! Yes it was Egan! I told you before but you wouldn't listen!" as Kai comes closer I realise that the only reason he's going so slow is because he's barely conscious "WHAT DID YOU DO TO KAI?"

"We did nothing," snarls Bryan suddenly grabbing me and slamming me against the wall "it was you!"

"Bryan leave him alone!" shouts Kai putting a hand to his forehead as he sways slightly.

"Kai!" I turn back to Bryan "what do you mean it was me who did that to Kai?"

"Egan is out to get you" Tala steps up to me while Bryan crushes me against the wall "while you were shouting blue murder in the street Egan was right behind you raising a knife ready to strike you down, when you ran Egan made to go after you but Kai jumped him so you could get away!" Tala glares at me but I look back at Kai, he knew Egan was there. Was that why he didn't want me to leave the car? Why he kept following me? To protect me?

"So we figure if we get rid of you then Egan can fuck off to rest in peace and Kai won't die protecting you" finishes Bryan who of course when he says 'we' actually means him. Like he'd let Tala go to prison.

"You need to see to Kai first!" I shout at him "he needs help!" in answer to my words Kai stumbles and Tala immediately goes to his side helping him stand.

"Let him go Tala" Kai's voice is weak but firm "it's not his fault"

"If he wasn't here you wouldn't be hurt!" snarls Tala and Bryan pushes his arm against my neck, I don't care about me but please someone help Kai! Please! Someone! If anyone is out there please let Kai be ok!

* * *

Annnnd that chapter is officially done! Whoop! Whoop! Poor Kai, and lets not forget what Ray is suffering also.

Please Review!

Kiki


	5. Oh Sweet Misery Is Mine

I am an IDIOT! I swear if I was any slower I'd be going backwards! Shall I tell you why I'm such a fool?  
Well, I was quite happily going through this chapter one final time when an idea struck me, a good idea, an AMAZING idea. But, because I'm a sandwich short of a flipping picnic, I cannot use this idea! What was this idea? This idea was that Egan was not Egan but Alexander, a character one meets briefly in the first series of Beyblade. With Alexander taking the place of Egan the story fitted perfectly and better still, Alexander is a character of Beyblade if only a minor one.

But I cannot use this idea. Why? BECAUSE I'VE ALREADY WRITTEN THE PREQUEL AND I'M HALFWAY THROUGH THE GODDAMN SEQUEL! Why did I not come up with my Alexander idea earlier? Because I'm an idiot, that's why! I'm already rewriting the prequel, **All Hell Breaks Loose**, and I can't completly change Egan because that would just totally confusing! BUT if I had come up with this idea a year ago then I wouldn't be in this situation! But I didn't come up with this idea a year ago, why? Because I am a doofus! AHHH!

Right, that's the rant out of the way. On to the story.

I apologise for the above, but that idea is just so good and I can't use it! It's killing me, it really is! I feel like weeping, it's such a good idea but I cannot use it! NOO! It's not fair! Don't get me wrong, as bad characters go I do like Egan; it's just, I wouldn't have had to make up a character if I'd thought of using Alexander earlier and the story just seems to flow better...but, I cannot use it.

Anyway.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or any of its characters. Egan, on the other hand, does belong to me. He would not, however, have been a part of the story had I not been an idiot and thought of it earlier...I'm not going to get over this.

So, the last time we left this story Kai had taken a knife for Ray and was zooming his way to hospital. Egan's back with a vengence and it appears Kai was just protecting Ray. Will he admit this? Or has Kiki come up with a twist that makes up for the fact that she is a complete idiot because she didn't notice such good idea was staring her in the face!

I'm not getting over this.

Enjoy!

**

* * *

**

**BONES REBORN**

**CHAPTER FIVE: OH SWEET MISERY IS MINE**

~Max's POV~

"Maxie! Maxie, wake up!"

Something, that sounds like a sledge hammer smashing a pane of glass in to smithereens, echoes through my brain and it takes me a few moments to realise that it's an actual human voice. I wince as a pain like an elephant roaring in my ear erupts in my head; I try to remember a reason for living-

"MAXIE!"

"Uh. What" I grumble rolling my head from side to side.

"You need to wake up!" Hilary's voice now reverberates round me.

"Maxie! We need you to get up! Kai's in hospital!"

Now, Tyson, to say such evil things when I am drunk is not kind. It is wrong of you to attempt to sober me up with bad news such as Kai being in hos- Kai's in hospital! Really? When? Why? How? Who? Why? W- Ouch!

Stars circle my head as Tyson brings a frying pan down on me; I sit up so sharply that Kenny, who had been sitting next to me, falls back with a yelp.

"Kai'z zin hozzpital?" I ask trying my best not to slur my words and failing "hows zat? What'z happening?"

"Kai's in hospital! Ray's beside himself! And Tala looks like he's about to go on the war path!" says Hilary in quick succession.

Well, I now know what's happening.

"Come on, up you get, buddy. Here's some coffee" Tyson drags me to my feet and brushes me down, he shoves a plastic cup in to my hand and I take a swig. I choke.

It might call itself coffee but in my opinion it tastes more like slurry.

"Come on, we need to go!" Hilary ushers us out.

* * *

We arrive at the hospital somewhat sluggishly save for Hilary, who can hold her drink better than a pub full of men, and Kenny whom I suspect has been glugging water all night long.

"Ouch! Hilary!" I wail as she smacks my face when I falter by the hospital doors "that hurts!"

"Then wake up! You're drunk, so get un-drunk!" snaps Hilary "Kai is in hospital! Let me repeat that! Kai is in hospital!"

"You know if I didn't know better I'd say you were in love with Kai and not me" says Tyson sulkily … "but obviously I'm wrong" he adds smoothly as Hilary snarls like an animal.

"Come on!" Daichi gestures at us and walks in to the hospital…or, he at least tries to.

He has yet to learn that in order to open a door, one must use the handle first.

It takes Hilary a few moments to discover Kai's location; this is because the hospital won't allow anyone, save family, to see Kai. Given the fact that Kai's only living relative is a lunatic who once tried to reign over the world with spirit beasts trapped inside toy spinning tops, I'm not sure that family is the most appropriate visitor for Kai.

However, it doesn't take long for Hilary to beat (figuratively speaking) the truth out of the receptionist and moments later we're careering ourselves to the elevators. Hilary snarls at an old couple who had been about to take the only lift and we all pile in, bickering and squabbling as we Bladebreakers do.

The elevator reaches the third floor in a matter of seconds and before the doors have fully opened Hilary is pushing us out, ushering us in to the ward and shoving us down corridor after corridor. We pass patients, nurses, doctors, a clown and a rather nice looking lady serving coffee before we turn in to a hallway and spot Ray pressing his face against a large window that looks in to a private ward.

Inside the room Kai's lying in a bed, strung up to a life support machine which bleeps merrily away to itself; Bryan and Tala are standing about Kai's bed looking so much like the flipping mafia I half except them to whip out guns and start firing.

"Ray?" Hilary creeps over to the neko-jin who has his hands pressed to the glass.

"They won't let me in," he murmurs gesturing to Tala and Bryan though he never takes his eyes from Kai's prone form "they've locked me out" the shine of a tear wells up in his eyes and his hands clench to fists "they think I'll hurt Kai"

"How could they think that?" hisses Hilary furiously.

"Because Egan tried to kill me," whispers Ray "and Kai is only hurt because he protected me"

"Egan!" Tyson gasps in alarm "I thought we got rid of him already"

"He's back," replies the tiger still refusing to take his eyes from the phoenix "he wants to kill me"

"But how did he survive?" demands Daichi "we killed him once!"

"Egan's a ghost, Daichi, he's already dead" Hilary explains with exasperations.

"Technically his spirit's just been taken from his body" I remind her "if you recall, his body is another dimension and is now all rotted which is why he can no longer use-" I stop under the furious glare of Hilary which informs me she really doesn't want to know that right now.

Instead, she marches over to the locked door and gives Tala a glare that would strike the fear in to Achilles himself "Tala, you open this door right now!" she orders briskly.

Needless to say, Tala ignores her.

Kenny and I study Kai; his blue marks have been smudged, his face his pale and gaunt. The only movement he makes is the rise and fall of his chest, not even his eyelids flutter as we all gaze upon our treasured Captain.

"Poor Kai" breathes Kenny.

"Tala, let me in right now!" demands Hilary "otherwise I swear, I will scream so loudly you won't be able to hear for a month!"

As a response, Tala sneers.

"How long has he been out?" asks Kenny.

I look down at the file attached to the wall with _Hiwatari, Kai_ written at the top "says an hour on here" I answer.

Hilary turns to Tyson "break down the door!" she orders.

"I'm a little busy, Hilary" says Tyson who's pretending to comfort Ray, so as to avoid any embarrassing scenes that involve him breaking down hospital doors..

"Break down the door!" she orders again pulling Tyson from Ray; the neko-jin slides slowly in to a plastic chair as Tyson whines and moans.

But he'd have a better chance trying to stop a bee from making honey.

Sighing at his insufferable girlfriend Tyson apologies to surrounding doctors and kicks in the door, the lock is so weak it doesn't even need Tyson to give a second kick. The door swings open without a sound and we walk in, save for Ray who remains in his chair hands tightly clenched.

Both Bryan and Tala stop talking abruptly "Get out" says the redhead.

"Sorry, but Kai's our friend too"

Well said, Tyson!

"And between you and my girlfriend, I'm more scared of my girlfriend"

Less well said, Tyson.

We all hurry over to Kai who, instead of miraculously waking up and breaking in to a smile as he sees his friends, seems to sink in to a deeper coma.

"Maybe if we hit him he'll wake up" suggests Daichi.

Tala looks at us as if terrified we're all as stupid as a our little monkey over there, but Kenny merely says "no, Daichi, that won't work"

"Throw a bucket of over him?"

"Might possibly work, but we won't be allowed"

"What about-"

"No"

"Oh"

"Thoughtful of you, though" Hilary whispers putting an arm round Daichi and gave him a squeeze.

Yeah, _real_ thoughtful.

Lets not kill Kai.

Bryan and Tala raised their eyebrows as we all stand there solemnly, like a funeral procession waiting for the doomsday "he's not dead!"

"We know" answers Tyson "but still, if we don't behave quietly Kai will only wake up to tell us off, and then he'll go back in to a coma for another three weeks just to spite us"

"One wonders why" mutters Bryan.

We all look back at Kai

"Someone should get Ray in" says Tyson.

"That cat thing is not coming in here!" Tala hisses.

"Don't call Ray names!" growls Tyson "and of course he's coming in here! He cares about Kai more than any of us!"

"They're separated!" snaps the wolf.

"So they're going through relationship problems" Tyson glares at Tala "that's none of your business!"

"It's none of yours, either" the redhead points out.

Tyson grumbles furiously annoying the hell out us all, including Kai.

"Tyson, shut up" he mumbles.

Hang on.

Kai's awake!

"KAI!" we all shout with joy while Daichi rushes to tell Ray "you're awake!"

"And here was me thinking I was in hell" sighs the phoenix "one can only dream, I suppose"

"Great to see you too" huffs Hilary as she flings her arms around him; Kai knows not to push her away and so ignores the sick expressions from Bryan and Tala.

"You had us worried there, dude," says Tyson happily, the only reason he isn't hugging Kai himself is because he knows his arms will be ripped off "thought you were a goner"

"Thanks for your faith in me," says Kai with little joy as he pulls the oxygen mask from his face, sits up with a grunt and fails to prise the ever strong grip of Hilary from around his waist. He looks around "where's Ray?"

Aww, ain't that cute? He comes out of a coma and the first thing he thinks about is Ray "he's outside" I answer.

"Keep him out there" says Kai.

We look at him, surprised; even Bryan and Tala raise alternate eyebrows. The phoenix looks at none of us and begins to wrestle with the wires and sheets that have him trapped to the bed.

"Dude!" Tyson glares at Kai "he wants to see you! He's tearing himself in strips out there!"

For his part Kai pays no heed to Tyson, but instead settles his crimson gaze on Tala and Bryan, his lip curls slightly "you had no right to attack Ray as you did"

Tala shrugs "like I care what happens to the pussy cat"

"That's not the point" Kai says in his superior tones "I told you to keep away from Ray, you didn't listen"

"You're not my mother!" Tala retorts hotly.

"Thank God for small mercies" sneers Kai.

Tala's eyes flash "fine, I try to protect you and you throw it back in my face" he says frostily. He walks to the door "no doubt your _lover_ is pining to come in" the wolf then promptly opens the door and stalks out, head held high. Bryan glances at us, glares at Kai and follows Tala out the room like the devoted lovesick solider that he is.

"We'll leave you too" says Hilary as she looks through the doorway; following her gaze, I spot Ray leaning against the wall hands covering his face. Ahh, Hilary is going to give Kai and Ray some _alone time_.

Not if I can help it.

"Uh yeah" says Tyson as Hilary pokes him in the ribs; the group begin to back out the room, seeing my chance I dive in to a cupboard and shut the door quietly.

Sure I want to give Kai and Ray their privacy.

That's why I'm hiding in this convenient cupboard, instead of peering over their shoulders.

I hear the rest leave rather noisily, as Daichi walks in to a life support machine with a crash; then the room falls silent for a few moments before I hear Ray's tentative steps entered. For a time Kai doesn't speak, neither does Ray. I hear him sit down on a chair and clear his throat. Curiously, I inch the door open and peep through in to the room; Ray's sitting on a plastic lurid green chair by Kai's bed, Kai's leaning against his pillows trying to untangle himself from the various wires that have entrapped him.

Take it from me: it's not as easy as it looks.

"How do you feel?" Ray asks very quietly looking down at the floor and tracing a pattern with his foot.

"I'm fine" is Kai's reply.

Man, if I had a dollar for every time he said that I'd be richer than the president himself, think how much sugar _that_ would buy!

"Oh, ok" Ray mumbles. He fidgets which is a sure sign that he's about to burst out with something; he bites his lip and his shoulders droop as he glances up at Kai.

I give him five seconds.

One.

"Are you going to say something?" asks Kai.

Two.

"What makes you say that?" Ray replies softly.

Three.

"You're fidgeting"

Four.

"I want to know why you didn't believe me about Egan? I want to know why you took the dagger for me instead of telling me Egan was there? I want to know what's going on?" Ray blurts out.

Hey, I never got to five.

Oh well, timing just isn't Ray's forte.

Kai closes his eyes and shuffles in the bed before he answers "it was easier than fighting with you" he says folding his arms.

Ray frowns "if you'd just told me Egan was there I would have shut up"

"I sincerely doubt that" Kai sighs, he almost looks bored "you would have done something else"

Ray catches the look and his expression changes to that of pain, he stands up "I'm sorry if I'm bothering you" he suddenly seems unsure of himself "I just wanted to…" he trails off and stares at the floor face washing with hurt and determination as if he wants to say something but is unable to summon the courage to actually speak.

"Ray, if have something to say then say it" Kai doesn't even look at Ray; he doesn't even have his eyes open.

Ray shakes his head "there's something wrong with you…you've changed and I don't know how" he backs away as Kai looks up to stare at him impassively "you're not the same Kai that went unconscious, you're not the Kai I know"

"And what makes you say that?" asks Kai looking away again as if he's not interested.

"You've never looked at me as if…as if you were…bored of me" Ray whispers; he's backed to the door now "Egan almost killed you, Egan almost killed me in that club and yet you're sitting there like I'm just something that bores you"

"Maybe you do …" Kai replies.

Ray's eyes flash "so let me get this straight" he says coldly "you take a dagger for me because you claim it's easier than fighting with me. Now you say you're bored of me. Contradiction in terms isn't it?"

"Not necessarily" Kai answers "I'm bored of fighting with you, I'm bored of having you in my head because I feel we are separated and yet I get the impression you're still treating me like your lover, we're not together anymore, Ray."

Ray's eyes narrow dangerously "well, next time you're on death's door I'll remember not to care one bit!" he snarls.

"You do that"

Hurt bubbles on to Ray's face and his cold façade breaks "you and Egan deserve each other!" he growls in an unsteady voice "I hope you rot in hell!"

"At least I won't be bored" is all Kai says to this.

Ray's eyes widened: his mouth opens to say something, but it catches in his throat and instead all he manages to utter is "fine"

With that he spins on his heel and slams out the room leaving the room silent save for the _beep-beep_ of the life machine which changes to a continuous high-pitched drone as Kai pulls all the wires from his arms regardless of the pain this induces. He watches the blood trickle down his arm.

I burst out the cupboard.

"Kai Hiwatari!" I glare at him "how dare you speak to Ray like that! How dare you pretend you're bored of him! You take that back right now, dammit!"

Kai's so surprised to see me he stares at me for a full thirty seconds before he can speak, I make full use of this silence.

"You'd better be ashamed of yourself, young man! I'd beat the hell out of you if I knew I wouldn't die! You had no right to hurt Ray like that! You, Kai Hiwatari, are such a prick!"

Kai meanwhile isn't paying any attention to my lecture and is instead raking my pockets with his eyes "is that a chocolate bar in your pocket?"

"Yes it is!" I answer savagely "that has nothing to do with this! Do you realise how much you've just hurt Ray?"

"Can I have it?"

"No you cannot have my chocolate bar! You don't deserve it!" I glare at him "Ray is right! You're not the same guy that fell unconscious! Has Egan possessed you or something!"

"Egan wouldn't dare posses me," replied Kai who isn't taking his eyes from the chocolate bar "now if you're not going to give me that chocolate then you can leave"

I gape at him "wha- what about Ray? Have you even been listening to me?"

"Ray's very upset" Kai's voice is neutral, uncaring and emotionless "I don't care"

I stare at him " Kai? Where is your heart? Where is your compassion? Where is your guilt? Where is…where is my chocolate bar?" I suddenly find my pocket empty.

I find my chocolate bar.

Safely secure in Kai's hand as he calmly unwraps it and tucks in with gusto. I gape silently unable to utter one expletive. Kai nearly died taking a knife for Ray and yet he's sitting there as if nothing bores him more.

"You don't care at all, do you? What's changed so suddenly, Kai? I know you and Ray haven't been on best terms lately but everyone goes through bad patches in their relationships-"

"And what makes you think we're in a relationship?" asks Kai cutting through my words like a knife through butter.

"Don't give me that! I've seen the way you look at him! I saw you when Egan stole Ray's body: you were screwed up, Kai! I know you! You're not the kind of guy to suddenly just stop caring! Something must have happened! Did Egan say something? Is he threatening you? Is he using Ray as a way to control you?"

"Egan maybe back but he has nothing to do with the lack of relationship between Ray and I" Kai throws the wrapper of the chocolate on the floor "now leave, I'm tired of talking"

I can't say anything. I just stand there unable to understand. I try to look for some kind of misery in Kai's eyes but he's avoiding my gaze with solid determination. Surely Kai still cares for Ray. Kai loved Ray so much, though you would have never got him to admit it; he wouldn't just stop caring, I know he wouldn't. So that must mean Egan is in this somehow….grr! If only Kai would let me help! I know he can't just not care about Ray anymore; maybe Egan has forced Kai to stay away from Ray. Maybe this is Kai's plan: to make Ray hate him in order to keep him safe from Egan. If only you would let me help, Kai…

I hold my hands in defeat "I hope you know what you're doing, Kai, otherwise you're going to lose Ray for real"

I walk from the room with as much disgust and dignity as I can muster in light of the fact that Kai is finishing _my_ chocolate bar.

* * *

~Ray's POV~

Here. This is a picture of me and Kai; we were at the beach on this and Kai was trying to get Tyson and the others to train, but they were more interested in using the camera Max had got for his birthday. That was only three days before I saw Egan again and I was happy being with Kai.

Egan ruined everything.

I look at the picture in my hand, study the way I've pulled an unwilling Kai in to the line of the camera; his expression is grumpy to say the least and at most murderous.

Kai hates cameras.

I run my thumb over his face and eyes remembering his lips, his touch; I loved him so much, now he's gone.

He made it clear to me at the hospital that he doesn't care; I remember the times we both stayed up late in to the night because I'd bullied him in to watching a movie with me or because I'd dragged him out for a walk, I think then Kai cared about me…even if he doesn't now.

I hear Max return shouting something about Kai eating chocolate bar and banging through the place fuming at all stuck up rich…I won't repeat what he says but Maxie, when did thy get such a dirty mouth? I blame Daichi, no I do; he's the only one who teaches innocent Maxie such bad language.

I look back down at the picture in my hands as Mariah knocks on my bedroom door and asks softly if I want something to eat; she was in when I came back so I guess she caught a look of my face and surmised all was not well "no, thanks" I call back. I feel I should say more but speech is a little difficult. It's dark outside but I couldn't tell you what time it is; I wonder where Egan is.

With Tala gloating that he's ripped Kai and I apart?

My mind runs through the words Kai spoke to me earlier: is he really bored of me? The words cut me just as deeply as they did before and my throat catches; I want so badly to believe that Kai was lying, to believe that he was saying that because he was trying to protect me…but his voice was so cold and uninterested.

…

No, I have to believe that he was saying those things to protect me, I have to; if I believe the other…that Kai is bore- I can't! I can't believe that! My eyes prick and my chest contracts: I can't believe Kai is bored of me; it would crush me. Sighing deeply, and trying to convince myself that I'm ok, I lay back on my bed and gently place the photograph of Kai and I on the pillow next to me tracing my fingers over our faces and remembering a time when I was happy, when I was with Kai.

It's no good; I can't fake anymore. Before, I was angry that Kai refused to accept that I'd see Egan, before I could find my anger for him and pretend I didn't care about him. But now the anger's gone, destroyed by the total lack of emotion in Kai's voice, and all that's left is pain and hurt. I have to admit, deep down to myself, that I want him back…

"No!" I grip the sheets and shut my eyes to hide the picture from my sights; I can't need Kai back! No matter what I have to be angry with him because he's treated me so badly; it's the only way I can live without it killing me when I breathe.

I have to hate him…I have to hate him…I have…I don't.

From the kitchen Tyson's voice floats up to me "Maxie! I can't believe you eavesdropped on Kai and Ray's conversation without telling me! How could you?"

"Tyson! It was wrong of Maxie to listen in!" Hilary lectures, "what happens between Kai and Ray should stay between them…what did happen?"

There's a few moments silence as, obviously, Max tells them what happened; I'd no idea he was there, I suppose it shows how twisted up I was. So what did Kai do when Max revealed himself? Did he tell Max he still cared about me? Or did he just block the blonde out like he does every time he doesn't want to do something?-

An outcry from the kitchen informs me Max has completed his report of what was said between Kai and myself; Tyson can be heard shouting rude words, Daichi has a lot to answer for, while Hilary shouts at him to sit down because there's no way in the world Tyson would be allowed to take an elephant or the cats of South Arabia in to the hospital.

Elephants? Cats of South Arabia? I don't get that boy. What does he plan to do with the elephant- no, don't Ray.

I wonder what Kai is doing now. Lying in the hospital bed or slipping passed the nurses to escape. Egan stabbed him pretty bad so I imagine he's probably feeling a little weak; he'll most likely be lying there fuming over his weakness and willing the night away. He won't try to sleep, Kai never sleeps in hospital until a clever doctor slips him a little something; when he was in hospital after the battle with Brooklyn he was always so bad tempered because he was tired. A small smile comes to my lips as I remember what happened to the grapes Hilary tried to give him…

Put it this way: I'll never look at a grape in the same way ever again, neither will Daichi.

My eyes open again; thinking about Kai hurts, it reminds me…maybe I should fantasize about Tyson with his elephant, take my mind from _Kai_. I reach out to touch the photo on my pillow once again; it's still the same, Kai looking annoyed while I smile. I want to smile now. I want to look in that picture and know that my life is as happy now as it was then.

What wouldn't I do to get Kai back?

I wish he was here with me now, lying next to me and getting irritated because my lack of sleep was disrupting his; one time he actually kicked me out and made me sleep on the floor…only to come and join me, which was good because I was actually quite cold. We were in Russia at the time, in the middle of winter, but Kai, being Kai, wasn't cold.

He never has believed in central heating.

"Damn!" a rush of pain strains my chest as thinking about it becomes too hard and earlier events come back to haunt me. Why did he tell me he was bored? Why did he suddenly not care? Why didn't he look at me? Why didn't he see the pain his words created? Why did he not want to speak to me? Why did he say he took that dagger for me because it was easier? Surely that can't be right. It can't be! He must have been lying, keeping the real reason to himself! Why didn't he tell what's going on? Why didn't he? Why did he not even glance at me?

It's strange, but until Kai acted as if he didn't care I was angry and able to keep myself cold to him. Now, because he's made it clear he doesn't want to know, all I wish for is Kai and I to go back the way we were.

"Kai!"

I bury my face in my hands. Wherever you are, Kai. Whatever it is you're doing I hope you know the hell and pain you've caused me. I hope you're thinking of me. I hope you still care. I _need_ to believe you still care. Come back to me. Dry the tears from my face and take the pain away.

Dream of me. I'd give you the rest of my nights if you would dream of me. Think about me. Care for me.

"I miss you"

* * *

Writing that last part was hell; I made the mistake of listening to _Goodnight_ by _Buffy Sainte-Marie_ (it's a really sad song) and then I then furthered my mistake by listening to three more sad songs all in a row. By the end of the chapter it was killing me, I couldn't write anymore without tears pouring down my face. I'm sappy like that.

So, chapter five is finished. Kai's behaviour is becoming stranger, he takes a knife for Ray and then claims Ray bores him? If you ask me, Kai has a screw loose, not that I can talk. I'm a doofus (see top of chapter for details).

Please review and leave me your opinions.

Now, I shall wallow in my self pity and foolishness.

Kiki


	6. Winters Of The Heart

Well hello! Here I am with another update!

It's actually been a while since I updated **Bones Reborn** and I've had this chapter written for a long time, since before Christmas, but I never got round to updating due to other things in my life, including other stories, that distracted me.

Anywho, I'm here and that's all that matters. Better late than never and all that.

As you can see there is a difference between this chapter and the previous chapters in that this chapter is titled. That is because at some point I intend to rewrite the previous chapters. When this will be I don't know as it is easier to count the stories I'm NOT rewriting than it is to count the ones I am. But I do not intend to rewrite this chapter which is why it is titled and laid out neatly.

So, on to the story. A shortish chapter this one, mainly a filler to take a break from all the misery of the last couple of chapters.

WARNINGS: Bad language.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade nor any of its characters. Any unknown charaters are most likely mine.

Enjoy!

**

* * *

**

**BONES REBORN**

**CHAPTER SIX: WINTERS OF THE HEART**

~Max's POV~

"You're not doing it right!"

"How _else_ am I supposed to do it?"

"Not like that!"

"Well I wasn't going to do _your_ way"

"What was wrong with my way?"

"It would have killed at least six people!"

"Is that so wrong?"

"Well no, if you don't mind going to prison for life"

"I could handle it"

"I'm sure you could, but you'll have to be the one to try that theory out"

"You're just chicken"

"But not stupid"

"You think I'm stupid!"

"Of course not"

"Good!"

"I'm telling you you're stupid"

"Watch your mouth, Kenny!"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll rip your head from your neck and shove it somewhere really painful!"

"I think you'll find that's physically impossible"

"I think you'll find I don't care!"

Ahh, the joys of watching Kenny and Daichi playing chess. Yes, Daichi and Kenny are playing chess in the sitting room of our home; you would have thought there was only one way to play chess. But, as Kenny has discovered, Daichi has several ways of playing chess. These include burning, freezing or smashing, but actual moving the pieces across the board seems a little too difficult for our little Daichi.

Therefore Kenny is winning…again.

Something Daichi doesn't like.

One could ask why these two are playing chess but one wouldn't get much of an answer; Daichi is too busy throwing his chess pieces out the window, while Kenny is forever trying to keep his chess pieces on the board. Daichi likes to throw Kenny's chess pieces out the window more than throwing out his own.

Kenny looks at Daichi expectantly.

Daichi mutters a rude word under his breath.

"Cursing me won't help you win at chess" Kenny points out calmly.

"No" Daichi admits "but it makes me feel better"

Kenny rolls his eyes "make a move already"

"In my own time!"

"You're only dragging it out because you know you're going to lose again"

"I will not lose!"

"You will"

"You're the one who'll lose when I break that King's head off!"

"That won't help you win chess"

"I'll snap your head off then!"

"That just means you've killed me, it doesn't mean you've won the game" Kenny sighs.

Tyson and I exchange a glance.

"Alright, if you think you're so clever then lets play another game!" challenges Daichi.

Kenny sighs again "what's that?"

Daichi reaches under the coffee table around which they are sat and brings forth a box "scrabble!"

Kenny looks at him "scrabble?"

"That's right, moron. Scrabble!""

"Alright, we'll play scrabble" Kenny agrees with an expression of great trepidation "but if I see just one made up word, I'm the winner"

Daichi smirks "I don't need made up words to win scrabble!"

"Hmm" Kenny sets up the board and grabs a handful of plastic letters. He catches Tyson and I looking at him "what?"

"You're playing scrabble" Tyson says faintly "do you realise how clinically sad that is?"

"And what's wrong with playing scrabble?" asks Kenny indignantly.

"Old people play scrabble, bored kids play scrabble" I tell him "but champion beybladers do not play scrabble"

"You're just saying that because you can't play scrabble to save your life" sniffs Daichi.

Tyson looks affronted "I can play scrabble!"

"Last time we played you couldn't even spell your own name correctly on the scorecard" Kenny reminds him coolly.

"That's because Daichi kept crossing out the T" replies Tyson huffily.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that" Daichi looks back at Kenny "prepare to be flattened!"

"How can I be flattened?" asks Kenny "we're playing scrabble"

I look over at Kenny's line of letters as the little genius chooses his word.

T, S, O, Y, J, N, A.

Kenny thoughtfully sets out his word.

Tyson.

Daichi looks at it "that's not a word!"

"Tyson is brain-dead and therefore he is an inanimate object, meaning that he is indeed a word" Kenny explains as Tyson looks round for something to throw "and besides, if you can use the _word_ ABBA, then I can use Tyson"

"ABBA is a word!"

"It is a name, and so is Transformers" Kenny smiles serenely.

Daichi sneers and puts down his next word "beat that!"

Kenny looks "fucker?"

"Now that's a word!"

"You're not going to beat him, you know" I tell Kenny "let it go and move on with your life"

Kenny ignores me and looks down at his new set of letters.

J, A, F, T, H, L, D.

He smiles and, using the E in fucker, spells the word fate.

Daichi snorts, "that's not a word!"

"Yes, it is" replies Kenny "and this one is actually in the dictionary"

"It's a stupid word" sneers Daichi.

"But still a word"

"Hmph!"

"Just because you can't admit it's a proper word doesn't mean it's not. So live with it, Daichi"

Daichi's eyes narrow "this is stupid anyway!"

"You wanted to play scrabble"

Tyson and I sigh emphatically as Lee walks in and flumps down on the sofa "Mariah ok?" I ask.

"Sure, she's just getting ready to go to the doctors" Lee answers "Ray said he'd drive her to the hospital"

I nod "have you seen much of Ray?"

Lee shakes his head "he hasn't even come out of his room since he went in last night, Mariah has talked to him through the door but he won't let her in"

"Maybe I should talk to him" suggests Tyson.

Lee and I look at him "and maybe I should dye my hair purple and start calling myself Doris" I reply.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tyson scowls at us.

"Tyson, no offence, but you're about as sensitive as a hedgehog" Lee answers patiently "when Ray gets depressed he can explode over just about anything. He needs to just be left alone until he's calmed down"

"Lee's right. He just needs time to get over Kai" I add.

"I think you're wrong" Tyson stands "in fact, I'm going to talk to him right now"

Lee sighs "Tyson, no. He won't appreciate it"

"That doesn't matter" Tyson insists, "Ray has to know we care"

Both Lee and I fall silent at that for a moment "I suppose you're right" I concede "for all we know, Ray's up there in tears because he thinks we don't care"

"Exactly. And we do care" Tyson says brightly "we need to show him that"

"I know! I'll make him some pancakes!" I jump up "then he will know we care!"

* * *

~Ray's POV~

I look at the clock.

11:45.

My eyebrows disappear in to my hair; I've never spent so long in bed. I'd better get up. I told Mariah I'd drive her to the hospital for her check-up, her appointment is at 12:30.

With a sigh I roll over in my bed and, unwillingly, my head leaves the comfort of pillows as I sit up; I begin to regret promising Mariah I'd drive her, I don't want to do much right now. Pushing my loose hair from my eyes I scramble from the warmth of my covers and grab my shirt from the floor.

There's a knock on the door as I slip it on.

My heart sinks; I don't want to see anyone.

"Who is it?" I sigh.

"Tyson, can I come in for a moment?" the dragon's voice floats through carefully "I'll only bother you for a minute"

I think about this.

Is it really a good idea to allow another living soul in to my room? If Tyson says something wrong I'll probably end up killing him.

"Tyson, I think if-" I begin.

"Just for one moment, then I'll leave" Tyson interrupts.

With another sigh I roughly tie my hair back and walk to the door; I bite my lip and hesitantly unlock the door and peep through it.

Tyson is standing there holding something up.

"Peace offering?"

I pull back the door and Tyson slips in presenting a beyblade; with some surprise I suddenly realise it's Drigger "wha- how did you get this?"

"I found it in the club, it must have fallen out of your pocket"

I look shame-facedly down at the beyblade now safely back in my clutch "I didn't even noticed I'd lost it"

"Well, at least you have it back now" Tyson reasons.

I look back up at the dragon and manage a small and rather strained smile "thanks, Tyson"

"I figured you'd want Drigger back" Tyson shrugs "anyway, I'm sorry, I didn't realise I'd caught you undressed"

I glance down at the boxers and shirt I'm wearing "it was about time I got out of bed" I turn back in to my room and realise with alarm that the picture of Kai and I is still place gently on the pillows. Quickly I slip it under the covers and place Drigger on the window ledge.

"Was there something else?" I ask.

"Actually there was…" Tyson clears his throat "I…uh…wanted to apologise"

I look at him "why? You haven't set fire to the kitchen again, have you?"

"No!" Tyson folds his arms looking put out "that was a one time accident"

I sniff "are you sure? I think I can smell smoke"

Tyson sniffs also "oh, Max is making you pancakes"

"Ahh" I nod "so what else do you need apologise for?" I look him up and down "you haven't had a sex change, have you?"

"Cut it out, man! I'm trying to be serious here!" Tyson pouts.

I give a dry chuckle "sorry, I'll stop talking. Please tell me what you're apologising for"

Tyson scuffs the floor "I wanted to say sorry for how I reacted when I first found out about you and Kai. I acted like a real pig, and I'm sorry"

I stare at him "Tyson, I-"

"No, don't try and make me feel better" Tyson cuts me off "I was a real homophobic prick, there's no other way of looking at it. I can't change what I said then, but I can tell you I'm sorry and that I was a git"

"But, Tyson, Kai and I aren't even together anymore"

Tyson blinks "you're still gay, aren't you? Don't tell me you're turning straight now that you and Kai have broken up"

"Well no, of course not. But-"

"Then my apology still stands" Tyson stands his ground "I was a git, I let you down when you needed me to be your friend and I'm sorry for that. Truly, Ray, I am so sorry"

I sigh and then give another small smile "alright then. Apology accepted"

"Good" Tyson looks satisfied "oh, and I want you to know Kai is no longer invited to my birthday party"

"No, don't do that" I say hurriedly "it's your birthday, Tyson. You have to invite whoever you want"

"But I don't want to invite Kai" Tyson points out "not after what he did to you"

"You don't have-"

"You're not changing my mind on this, Ray," the dragon warns, "stop now, before you get a headache"

"Fine" I manage my third smile.

"Good" Tyson turns back to the door "I'll leave you now, ok?"

"Sure. But Tyson…"

Tyson looks back at me.

"Thank you"

The dragon grins, "I'm your friend, Ray. I just wanted you to know that, we're all your friends"

"I know" I reply "I realise I'm not being much fun right now, but-" I stop as a thought hits me "sorry, but did you say Max was making me pancakes?"

"Yes, I did-" Tyson's eyes widen "ohhh…"

We look at each other.

"MAXIE, NOO!"

* * *

"Thanks for driving me to the hospital, Ray" Mariah smiles at me.

"It was no problem" I reply as I swing the car in to a parking space "it's done me good to get out of my bedroom" I then turn off the engine.

"I hope so" Mariah looks at me worriedly and leans over to push my hair back "look at you" she whispers "you're all pale looking and you haven't eaten anything"

"I know, but I don't think I could have stomached the pancakes Max made"

Mariah nods "true, it was foolish of Daichi to even try"

We both glance in to the back of the car at the very green looking Daichi who hiccups every so often.

"Say…Mariah" I grip the steering wheel. It's now or never "I've been thinking…"

"What Ray?"

"Once you've had your baby I'll go back to China with you…I'll marry you and look after you" I draw in a breath "I should have done it sooner and I know I've let you down…but, now I'll make sure you and the baby are always comfortable"

Mariah looks at me brow furrowed "Ray no! That's not-"

"It's what I should do" I override her "and don't get me wrong, it's not like I think of it as my duty. I love you dearly and I'll be happy with you so-"

"Ray!" now Mariah interrupts me "I came back here because the elders made me, they want me to marry you because they believe it's the only thing to do. But that's not what I feel at all, not anymore"

I look at her "you've never said that before"

"I know" she bites her lip "I should have done but you know what it's like, when you've grown up with the elders teaching you what they believe, it's hard to come to terms with new ideas. But I have decided that I can raise the baby by myself"

"But the elders will abandon you" I point out.

"But Lee won't" Mariah replies, "neither will my parents, and I'll always have you too. I won't be on my own, I have friends who will help me"

"Mariah, the elders will throw you from the village" I remind her "they won't let you live at your home anymore, they'll already be angry at you for getting pregnant out of wedlock. Marriage is the only-"

"Ray, I'm not marrying you"

"Why not?" I ask, slightly offended. Am I not sexy enough or something?

"You know as well as I do that if you go back to that village you will suffocate" Mariah half growls at me "how many times did I listen to you dreaming about getting away from the village and seeing the world?"

"Well yes" I admit, "I did want to see the world. Now I've seen it so it's time for me to-"

"Ray, you are talking like this because you're sad and lonely!" Mariah squeals exasperatedly "time will heal you! And then, in a few months time, you'll regret coming back to the village with me"

I fall silent at this, unsure what to say.

"You know I'm talking sense" Mariah presses "Kai's hurt you, hurt you badly. But running back to the village won't help that!"

I close my eyes with a sigh and lean my head against the steering wheel "you're right"

"I know I'm right"

"But I'm still going back to China"

"Oh Ray!" Mariah growls "haven't you listened to what I've said? Running away from this is the wrong thing to do!"

"Well what else can I do?" I ask, "you're right, Kai has hurt me. More than I'll ever be able to even comprehend; I know if I stay here I'll just be thinking about him all the time. He won't leave my mind, I'll be walking down the street praying that there's a chance I'll see him, or I'll be sitting in a café drinking black coffee because it's what Kai drinks" I look back up "and I don't like black coffee…it gives me stomach ache"

"But Ray-"

"No" I put my fingers to her lips "I'm coming back with you, I should have done that a long time ago" Mariah tries to say something but I shake my head and look at my watch "we'd better go, it's nearly time for your appointment and I have to help Daichi and Max to A and E"

I look in to the back of the car again at the charred figure sprawled over the back seat next to Daichi.

"You ok there, Max?"

A blackened hand waves at me and its owner groans.

Max really shouldn't try to make pancakes.

* * *

It's perfectly simple.

All I have to do is find an AMAZING eighteenth birthday present for Tyson…

…In this hospital snack shop full of newspapers and out of date chocolate bars.

I browse the shelves and pick up a pack of colouring pencils.

Oh come on, what am I thinking? Tyson still thinks Picasso is a type of vegetable.

I pick up a book and read the back.

An occult account of the 1920s is hardly Tyson's cup of tea.

What about a magazine full of naked girls?

Hmm, if Hilary finds that on Tyson she'll probably roast him alive. We'd be going to Tyson's funeral instead of his birthday.

How about a nice hairbrush?

Get real, Ray. When was the last Tyson brushed his hair?

Alright, how about this little plastic Harry Potter toy set complete with twelve different sound effects?

I bet Butchie would just LOVE that!

"Well, what do we have here?"

I spin round with the Harry Potter toy set still in my hand.

Egan's standing there with a blatant expression on his face "looks like the little kitty's lost his way"

Be nice, Ray. Just pretend you don't want burn Egan alive because he ruined your life "Egan" I manage a smile.

"Ray" Egan's lips curve in to a superior smirk.

Smug bastard.

"I'm surprised to see you here all by yourself" Egan looks disdainfully along the shelf "I wouldn't think your precious team let you out of your sight"

"I'm surprised to see you all by yourself too" I reply "I wouldn't think you could survive three seconds without your big brother"

"Oh, but I'm not alone" Egan assures me "Tala is right here"

As Egan turns to the entrance of the shop Bryan and Tala appear both with looks of irritation; they walk in to the shop "come on" orders Tala "I'm not standing around here all day"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Tala. I was just here talking to Ray"

As one Bryan and Tala glance at me.

"That may be, but we have things to do" Tala says.

I look at Tala fixedly but he avoids my gaze. That's not like him.

"Oh dear, it looks like I have to go" Egan simpers sadly.

"It's fine" I answer, "I have things to do"

"We really must meet up some time" Egan adds as I put back the Harry Potter toy set.

"But of course" I look at him earnestly "you should come round at some point, Egan. You simply _must_ try Max's pancakes"

With that I slip passed him, walk through the middle of Bryan and Tala to the shop entrance.

And I crash straight in to Kai.

* * *

Yeah, so I'm guessing the next chapter will be a little tense between Kai and Ray. I have to say I love Ray's comment to Egan about Max's pancakes!

And that's another chapter over and done with!

Pray tell me what you thought!

Thanks for reading!

Kiki


	7. The Virtue Of Time

**Review Replies**  
Sad Person: Thank you very much for your review. I'm sorry for the long long wait, my inspiration for the story died and came back to life several times but I only ever managed to write a couple of lines at a time. However, these passed couple of days I've been able to sit down and get it done. I hope you like it!

* * *

Wait for it...wait for it...is it? ...YES, I don't believe it, it's an UPDATE! Woo! Woo-woo!

Man, it has been FOREVER since I updated this story. I tried several times to write this chapter and I've been wanting to finish it for AGES. And here I am, I'll bet I'm more pleased than you lot are.

Anyway, I made up for it, this chapter is TEN pages long. Not bad for a girl who could barely write a page without getting bored.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, nor any of its characters. Any unknown characters most likely belong to me.

WARNINGS: Bad language. Mentions of death. Attempted humour.

And so, without further ado, I give you chapter seven of **Bones Reborn**.

Enjoy!

* * *

**BONES REBORN**

**CHAPTER SEVEN: THE VIRTUE OF TIME**

~Ray's POV~

As I may have mentioned, on previous occasions, Kai has one firmly toned and exercised body, which is great for him…not so great for those unfortunates who crash straight in to him. Imagine walking in to a solid brick wall and you get the general idea of what walking in to Kai Hiwatari is like. Stars flicker before my eyes and I have to blink somewhat furiously to regain control of my balance; if walking in to Kai is this bad then walking in to Bryan must be down right lethal.

And as for walking in to Spencer…I don't even want to go there.

Kai meanwhile has lived up to my description of a brick wall; he stands there completely still, staring at me as if he's never seen me before.

Now that's a _great_ compliment coming from the guy you considered was your lover.

The whole shop has fallen silent, Bryan and Tala are standing there like the worshiped stone Gods of the Egyptians and Tala might even resemble one of them if I was so cruelly inclined to think like that. After all, comparing a young man with a face like a dog to a God that has been worshiped and loved for thousands of years is a great insult to that God, whether it's an insult to Tala or not I couldn't care less. You might think us all fools as we stand here staring at each other, with looks that are reminiscing to that of Hugh Grant's finance when she picked up the papers to find out her beloved had been caught having his end away, and indeed we do all look rather stupid just standing there; but tell me, dear reader, what do I say to the guy that claimed he found me a drag on his pride?

I know what I want to ask him. I want to ask what he's doing out of bed. I want to ask him how he can just stand there so silently when he knows that last night he broke me to pieces. I want to ask him how he could just let Egan walk back in to our lives and tear us apart as if we were paper. I want to ask him if he thinks of me at all. I want to ask him how he can just stand there like that.

But most of all, deep down inside me, what I really want to ask him is-

"_Why_ are you wearing a lime green jacket?" I demand.

Alright, so it's not the most profound and probing thing I could have asked him. It's not exactly going to clean up the mess that was our relationship. It won't help solve poverty, and it won't stop famine. But, seriously, _WHY_ is Kai wearing a lime green jacket? He hates lime green. I hate lime green. I quite fail to see the possible pleasure Kai could gain from wearing such a monstrosity as _that_.

"Is that any of your business?" the phoenix replies, emotionlessly as usual.

"It looks like it's about to crawl off your shoulders and fly away at any given moment"

"That shouldn't bother you"

"No, but it'll certainly blind me" I say coolly "we could put you on the cliffs by the sea, the authorities are in need of a new lighthouse"

"Ouch" Egan appears at my side and gives Kai a smile, which I would have called coy if it wasn't for the face he was about as modest as a pair of rabbits, Egan snickers as he stalks passed me and takes his stance next to Kai "looks like Ray has an axe to grind, Kai"

"I'm not sure grind is the right word, hack in to tiny little pieces might be the better choice" I answer.

"Woo" Egan's eyebrows lift "you're full of them today, aren't you?"

"I've had a lot of practice over the years"

"Hmm, I don't doubt" Egan agrees "I imagine your experience will have been gained from living with those dunderheads you call friends. Tell me, are the Bladebreakers naturally stupid or has that skill be honed in over several years?"

My eyes narrow dangerously and my anger at Kai rises somewhat when he fails to defend them in any way "watch your tongue" I snarl at Egan "so the Bladebreakers may not be a class act, but they've more style and decorum than you, pal!"

Egan laughs, "there's about as much style in those lot as flattened dead bird"

"Whereas you've got as much charisma as a sack of potatoes" I retort.

"That's enough" Kai speaks and lifts his hand to quell the next comment on Egan's lips, he gives Egan a sharper look when the blonde looks likely to disobey "it's enough from both of you"

"And not nearly enough from you" I tell the phoenix angrily "how long were you a Captain of the Bladebreakers? Three years? And you just stand there quietly without defending them" I glare at Kai "after all the things we've done for you and you can't even be bothered to defend your friends, friends which you should be proud of"

"Ray! Ray!" and right on cue Max bursts in to the shop with hails of delight and a complete lack of sensitivity as he totally fails to notice that he's just barged in to an atmosphere that feels like heavy treacle "there you are! I've been looking for you, the Doctors say I should really stay over night but I can't be bothered, so lets go home!"

"Are you ill?" Egan asks folding his arms and giving Max what one would call – at a push – a look of compassion.

"Well, I was" Max explains as I begin to think that I'm about to be severely embarrassed and Kai ponders on which direction he would have to go in order to reach Canada "I was trying to make pancakes to cheer Ray up because he was so miserable, but I'm not much of a cook and the oven blew up in my face and set fire to the kitchen"

Egan blinks momentarily and then looks at me "I was wrong, Ray" he smiles a somewhat gloating smile "the Bladebreakers certainly have style"

I shoot the smug bastard a glare as Max suddenly realises the scene he's just dived headfirst in to, he looks from Kai to me, back to Egan and then to Tala and Bryan who have been glued to the same spot since this whole fiasco began. Max clears his throat uncomfortably "ah"

That's just great, that is. My lover has been taken from me, my friends' good name has been dragged through the mud, my life has been taken by the throat and throttled until it's dead and all Max can manage is a two letter word that just about sums up the absolute ridicule of this situation. Just great. Thank you for your support, Max, thank you for those kind words that show that you would stand by me even when the last light has gone out.

"So…" Max breaks the silence despite my frantic barely hidden gestures telling him to _shut the fuck up_ "Kai!" he claps the phoenix on the shoulder "how you doing, buddy?"

"I'm fine"

You won't be if I punch you in the stomach.

Max, oblivious to my mutinous look, grins at him and continues in that bright voice of his "we were all worried about you, weren't we, Ray? We care about you, Kai, you should really remember that" he gives Kai a pointed look and glances at me.

Oh God, I think Max is trying to get Kai and me back together. Quick, Ray, think of an excuse to leave, preferably before Max embarrasses you so much you won't be able to leave the house for the next three years.

"Max, I think the Doctors are right, you should really-" I begin.

"He still feels for you, Kai, and I know you still feel things for him no matter what you say" Max overrides me loudly under the impression he's doing me a favour.

He isn't.

"He was miserable last night" Max continues "he spent the night with your picture on the pillow next to him, Tyson told me-"

I hate the Bladebreakers, I hate the Bladebreakers; they're nothing but a bunch of inbred overcooked idiots who've run out of their sell by dates, I despise the day I met them. I knew I should have listened to my Mother, she always told me that travelling the world would come to no good. And she was right. Look where it's got me-

"He didn't come out of his room and Mariah said it looked like he'd been cry-"

Oh no. The _last_ thing I need is for Tala and Bryan to know that I can cry when I want to. I grab Max by the shoulders and give him a grin; I silently try to tell him that if he utters one more word I'll string him up by his balls and leave him to dangle just out of reach of several very large and very hungry tigers. However, it's difficult to convey that whole message in one toothy grin so I do the next best thing.

"Ow!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't just kick you accidentally in the part of your body where no guy should be kicked, did I?" I gasp as Max crumples to the floor "Maxie, how will you ever forgive me?"

"It's ok, Ray" Max wheezes as he struggles to get up clutching at his private anatomy like it's about to fall off…I did kick him quite hard "I can understand you're in an unstable state of mind…you're heartbroken, when people are heartbroken and mourning for the one they love- YEOW!" Max falls back to the floor.

I look down "whoops, silly me, I did it again" I examine my foot as if it's kicking Max between the legs of its own accord "it's probably just a reflex of some kind"

Meanwhile, the small group that now surrounds me all have various expressions of shock and surprise; Tala can't believe I can be so violent, Egan can't believe I can be so vindictive, Max can't believe the extortionate pain he's in, Kai can't believe Max can fall for the same trick twice and Bryan can't believe the overblown price one measly chocolate bar possesses.

My God, we're all turning in to some kinda comedy show.

And to cap it all off, to put the icing on the cake, to add the finishing touch to this melee of madness Mariah waddles in impatiently. She takes in the scene with a look at each of us and then folds her arms crossly "Ray, there you are. I've been looking for you"

"Yeah…sorry, I got kinda distracted" I mumble as Max struggles in vain to regain an upright position…I don't think that other of his body is going to be upright any time soon either.

"What are you doing in the hospital shop?"

"I was buying a birthday present for Tyson"

"In the hospital shop?"

"Hey, Tyson would be thrilled if I bought him a cardboard box, I figured I might find something in here"

"And did you?"

I blink "did I what?"

"Find a suitable birthday present"

"Uh…no…I got sidetracked" for the first time in a while my eyes stray to Kai's and a jolt of electric shock jumps through me as I find his dark crimson eyes looking back.

We're silent for a moment while Mariah claims loudly that she wants to go in to town to do some shopping. Bryan makes some crude remark to this declaration and Mariah pushes him over with great ease considering the fact that Bryan has been subjected to a life time of torturous self defence.

Max rolls around on the floor and wordlessly begs for the pain to end; Tala, who seems to have struggled to come to terms with these events as they come to him, finally regains his self control and snaps in to action. He orders Bryan to stop stealing chocolate bars, tells Egan to get a move on and steps languidly over Max.

Bryan, however, is not so charitable and instead of stepping over Max decides to step on to him. Egan makes another rude comment, one which Mariah snarls back to, before he leaves laughing in what I would term an evil tone.

Then Tala calls Kai again, and those crimson eyes are gone as Kai turns away and strolls out of the hospital shop without a look back. I watch him go, torn between the urge to call after him or watch him walk away. In the end I do nothing, like so many people before me, I simply let him disappear and wonder what could have been…

What _could_ have been? Should I have called after him? Should I have called him back? Would he have turned to look at me? Why is he doing this? I _know _he still wants me, I know that. But I don't know why he won't admit it. Why does he let his pride lead him so? Why does he let Egan rule him completely?

"_Why_ is he wearing that damn lime green jacket?"

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you in to town, I don't mind" I say as Mariah pulls her jacket tighter around her to quell the cool wind.

"Yes, I'm sure. I have things to think about"

I look at her "such as?"

She looks at me as if I'm stupid "the baby?" she suggests in a mockingly casual voice.

"Ah…and have you thought about that?"

She gives me another look and releases a sigh "hmm, have I thought about the baby which is growing inside me and making me fatter on a daily basis and will forever change my life and change my perception on the world…nope, haven't thought about it at all"

"Alright" I hold up my hands in surrender "I just meant what do you think? I mean, the big day is arriving rapidly and it's closing in on you, are you ok with that?"

"I don't really have any other option if you think about it" Mariah replies with a chuckle at my expense. She takes my arm and calls me a silly doofus, which I don't appreciate, as we walk leisurely back to the car.

"Let me ask you, why did you come to Japan to have the baby?"

"Because I didn't fancy my chances with Master Tao as the delivery Doctor"

Ah "fair point" I admit with a smile.

"And I wanted you to be there" she adds giving my arm a squeeze "I love you to bits, Ray, you always make me feel safe and secure so I wanted you to be there"

"Technically it's supposed to be Lee who makes you feel safe and secure"

"Have you _seen_ Lee? He's more of a nervous wreck than I am, any one would think it was _him_ having the damn baby!" she looks up at me as I snicker "oh say you'll be there, Ray"

"Of course I'll be there, you don't even have to ask"

She rests her head against my shoulder and sighs "I've been reading about giving birth" she says quietly "by all accounts it's the most painful and arduous experience a woman can endure"

"You scared?" I ask as we reach the car.

"A little" she confesses, then makes light of it "but it can't be more painful than watching Lee solve a maths equation, can it?"

I smile "nothing can be as painful as that" I assure her, turning to her to take her hands "and I'll be there, with you in the hospital and afterwards too, making a new life back in China"

She looks at me sharply "Ray, we talked about this. Running away from Kai won't make the problems go away"

"True" I concede "but I know if I go to China I won't see him again, and that's what I want right now"

"Yes, right now" Mariah agrees "but think what you'll want in the months to come, next year. You won't be happy, Ray, you always said the White Tiger Mountains choked you"

"But I also love the White Tiger Mountains" I add firmly "and anyway, happiness isn't everything, I have a duty to you and the people at home to consider-"

"Raymond Kon, you ran away from your duties to become a champion beyblader" Mariah reminds me passionately "out of everyone I know you're the one person who always shirked his duties-"

"Then it's about time I returned to them" I put in before she has chance to start another tirade "now, go away and do your shopping" as an afterthought I pull the car keys from my pocket and hand them to her "take these, you can drive yourself in to town"

"But what about you?"

"Nah, I'll walk home" I reply, "I fancy stretching my legs a little"

"If you're sure" she plants a kiss on my cheek and throws me a wave as she clambers in to the car.

I turn away and sauntered through the car park to the trees that line the boundaries; from there on it leads to a park and continues through town for around twenty minutes before I reach home. But I'm in no hurry, in fact, I want to go slow. I want to find an excuse to stay outside on my own for as long as possible. I want to keep those looks of sympathy and understanding at bay for hours on end. The air is cool and the day is calm, all I want to do is stay out here forever; but I can't. The others will want to know how Daichi is doing and Max-

Wait, where is Max?

I stop and look around as if I'll see a fuzzy blonde head running after me.

No sign.

Oh well, I'm sure he's fine.

Sure, I don't seem like a caring friend right now, but let's not forget that Max has just humiliated me in front of the very four people I never want to be humiliated in front of. I reach the trees and step clear of the hospital car park; the hum of traffic leaves me behind and for a brief moment of bliss I'm in the quiet and the serenity.

And it takes me back to the White Tiger Mountains where the only sound was the wind blowing through the trees; that life had been simple, no ghosts from the past or lovers you were never meant to have. Part of me still misses my childhood home…and maybe when I go back I won't feel trapped, maybe I'll be free to-

A hand grabs me and unceremoniously drags me sideways in to a thicket of trees and bushes; my reflexes kick in and I attack back, but a fist was prepared for me and it drives in to my stomach like a solid rock. I coughed and stagger as the assailant pulls me through some thorny bushes and pushes me to the ground where I land in a heap and look up gasping.

"Bryan, if you wanted to have a secret dalliance in the bushes all you had to do was ask"

Alright, not the best thing to say to a guy who has hated me solely from the moment he laid eyes upon me, and I pay dearly when his foot flies at me and barely misses me as I dive to the side.

"Shut the fuck up, Kon!" snaps the falcon.

He turns away from me as I scramble to my feet and brush down my trousers – a pointless thing to do, but they always seem to do it in the movies. I pull a leaf from my hair as I look up "well what's the big idea? We gonna have a bare fisted fight or something?"

"No!"

"A beyblade? You want a rematch?"

"No!"

"Well, you can't have dragged me in here because you like me, you don't like me-"

"I'm here to tell you to stay away from Tala and Kai" Bryan interrupts as he glares over his shoulder at me.

I blink "that's it?" my head tilts sideways "couldn't you have told me out there? What's with the secrecy?"

He doesn't reply and instead moves away from me to the other side of this tiny clearing where for the first time I see what I've just stumbled on to. The first thing I see is the large oblong dugout in the ground, the next thing I see is the shiny new spade Bryan is picking up.

And the last thing I see is a large bundle of blankets and rugs, the size of a man, lying half buried under the bushes. My eyes widening in alarm I take a step forward and then look at Bryan in shocked horror "is that what I think it is?"

Bryan glances at the wrapped up blankets that I'm staring at and shrugs with nonchalance as he returns to the hole in the ground and jumps in to it so he can continue digging deeper.

I watch him for a heartbeat before my gaze is dragged back to the heap under the bushes. It couldn't be. I have an over-active imagination. I've seen too many horror movies. It can't possible be what I think it is. It just can't.

But, either way, there's only one way to find out.

Swallowing I slowly walk to the bushes and kneel down; Bryan pauses in his digging and watches me closely as my hand lifts waveringly in the air and, clearing my throat nervously, I tug gently at one end. There's something solid buried in these rugs and blankets, and the touch of it makes me jump; I look back at the falcon who's standing in the pit silently, waiting for me to summon the courage. Biting my lip I consider that I don't have to do this, I don't have to know, I can just walk away and not look back.

But.

If I don't look now I'll only kick myself later. And I need to know. I need to uncover this solid object to see the truth.

I just hope I'm wrong.

Steeling my nerves and struggle with the rugs and blankets that I have to wrestle with in order to loosen them. It's hard and they don't give in without a fight. But, when the blankets do pull down and I find I was right, I find myself wishing the blankets will still hiding it from me.

The face of the dead man is cold and frozen, the lips are parted and dried blood spatters one side of the face. His eyes are open and glassy, wide eyed and staring in to nothing. His body is hard and immovable; he's just a lump, a cold lump about to buried and forgotten about.

I draw in a shaky breath, and turn my gaze away, unable to look upon that face anymore. I look back at Bryan who's still watching me "he…the face seems familiar" I mumble.

"He's the guy from the bar" Bryan replies gruffly "the one Egan overtook"

Sharply I look back at the face with a gasp. He's right. It's the same guy that sat by me in the club, the one that Egan overtook and then attacked me using that guy's body "oh my God" I breathe.

Bryan's gone back to digging; the only sound is of him hitting the bottom of the pit, I stare at the dead face for a moment longer, this image will haunt me for months to come, but I can't stop looking. It's horrible, obscene, terrible and scary, but I can't stop looking at that dead face; the dark blood drops, the white pallor of the skin, the slight smell that over time will worsen before it improves. This is like something out of a horror movie.

I pull myself away and stand once more, looking down at Bryan as he continues in his monotonous digging "why did you show me this?" I demand. He ignores me and only grunts under the effort of digging over and over, ploughing the spade in to the soft soil and flinging it aside. I growl, "why did you kill him? What had he done to you?"

"Can't have Egan possessing other people," the falcon says in the same rough voice "too many people would find out"

"But why was there the need to kill him?" I persist. Something isn't right. I'm horrified, shocked, appalled…but I'm alright, I'm not scared, or sick at the thought that someone has died. It's sad, yes, but I feel no regret. Is that even right? Someone has lost their life and I just stand here asking questions, but I can't help myself "why did you kill him, Bryan?"

"He had to die, he knew too much"

"But surely there could have been-"

"It was the only way" Bryan interrupts with a glare at me "it's important to keep Egan secret from the public, to protect him"

"Or to protect Tala?" I ask softly as I watch him dig further down. He's to his waist now, but he seems determined to reach the centre of the earth at the rate he's going "was that why you killed him, was if for Tala?"

Bryan says nothing and only wipes the sweat from his brow with a muddy hand; he's pulled off his jacket and flung it at the edge of the pit.

"Why did you show me this, Bryan?" I take a step forward to the pit and look down at him "what possible reason could you have to show me this?"

"Because it's what will happen to you if you don't keep away from Tala and Kai" the falcon looks up at me with wild pale eyes "Egan wants Tala and Kai to himself and that's what he'll get, no matter what"

We stare at each other for a few seconds and for the first time I see how much Bryan actually hates Egan. I see the loathing, the hatred and the anger, I see the need to rid himself of Egan in any way he can. My brow furrows as in to the silence a thought comes to me "…are you threatening me…or are you warning me?"

Bryan tears his gaze away and returns to his task of hiding the body.

* * *

Home is a welcome sight for my eyes as I clamber up the steps to the front door and search my pockets for the key; over and over in my head I can see that face staring upward in to nothing, it sends shivers down through my body. But when I'm not thinking of that dead face I'm thinking of the expression of hatred in Bryan's eyes.

Was that really a threat to make me stay away? Or was he telling me what Egan would do if I tried to reach for Kai? A threat or warning? Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference and maybe in Bryan's case it was a bit of both.

There is something else that bothers me too. If Egan is no longer possessing that man he found in the club, then _who_ is he possessing? Does Bryan know? Is that why he showed me the body of the dead man? Does Bryan really want me to keep away or is there something deeper going on?

Sighing I slip the key in to the lock and turn it, pushing open the door I barely have a second to register my surroundings before Tyson, Lee and Hilary are leaping upon me like lions in for the kill.

"Whoa, watch it!" I squeal, dodging to the side and wincing as Tyson crashes headlong in to the door.

Kenny marches up to me "where have you been? We were getting worried about you!"

"Yeah, sorry about that…I…" words fail me. Do I tell them where I've been? "…I walked home the scenic route" that's not exactly a lie. Kenny stares at me accusingly and for a second I almost break, but I hold a steady nerve and ramble on quickly "Daichi's ok, they're keeping him in overnight. Max is ok too, the Doctors wanted to him to stay but he was adamant- oh! Damn, I forgot about Max!" I realise for the second time "is he home yet?"

"No" Lee shakes his head.

"Oh dear, maybe I shouldn't have left him lying on the floor" I ponder, maybe I kicked him a little too hard…my thoughts trail off as I realise for the first time that everyone is staring at me with wide eyed expressions. I look at them all "what? Have I stumbled in to the world champion staring contest?"

"Uh, no-no, of course not!" Tyson assures me…a little too quickly.

My heart sinks in to my stomach "what's wrong?" I ask.

"N-Nothing!" says Kenny in a rushed voice.

"Absolutely nothing!" Hilary agrees.

"Completely nothing!" Lee tells me firmly.

I look at Tyson expectantly and he quavered under my stare; to give him credit he held out longer than I expected, but seconds later a finger pointed me to the sitting room and, pulling off my jacket, I walk over and open the door.

Kai turns from the window as I open it and for a second I stare at him in surprise; I look back over my shoulder at the others to find them all determinedly not looking at me. I sigh heavily and step in to the room, closing the door lightly behind me.

"What do you want?"

He's still wearing that God awful lime green jacket and his hands are shoved in to the pockets of his jeans; the blue shapes he meticulously paints upon his face day to day are not there, a strange thing for Kai to do, it usually means he's distracted.

Mind you, I think a murderous insane obsessive ghost that can possess people at will would distract anyone.

"I want you to leave Egan and I alone" says the phoenix calmly.

I raise my eyebrows; I fold my arms and look at him "was that all you wanted to say?"

"It is"

"In that case there's the door" I gesture vaguely behind me.

"I won't leave until I have your assurance that you won't bother Egan and I again"  
"I can't leave you alone if you don't go" I point out.

"Then promise-"

"Oh what's in a promise?" I snap, my already tried patience wearing thin "it means nothing these days, and anyway, what makes you think I actually want to come within five miles of you and your perky wee blonde?"

Kai ignores my jibe and repeats in the same empty voice "I merely want you to leave Egan and I in peace"

"Why? So you can kill other innocent people?" I enquire before I really realise what I've said.

Kai looks taken aback for a moment and a frown creases his brow "how-"

"How did I find out?" I say savagely "I saw the body, that's how I found out!"

"I see"

I glare at Kai, my anger rising higher "is that all you can say?" I gape at him "someone is _dead_, Kai, or had you not noticed?"

"One could hardly fail not to notice"

"Oh, and I suppose it's alright that Egan walks around with a trail of bodies behind him!"

"It's only one-"

"That guy had a life!" I snarl, "he had a family, a girlfriend, a baby, a good job, a whole life ahead of him!"

"How do you know he wasn't a murderous criminal?"

"It's an example!" I snap "what right have to judge someone life and call it useless? No right, that's what!"

"It was necessary" Kai stalls me before I can continue, "I'm not sure how you managed to find out, but it's for the better you have. At least I don't have to explain why you need to stay away"

"I'm not scared of Egan!" I sneer.

"Egan would kill you without thought" Kai replies "you need to keep away from him"

"I thought you didn't care about what happened to me, I bore you, remember?"

"I'm thinking of Egan, not you"

"Lucky old Egan"

Kai's eyes close for a brief second and a soft Russian word escapes his lips as he looks back at me "I simply want your word you'll leave us alone"

"And why should I give it to you?" I ask back "why should I give you anything, Kai? The way you've been recently, I've barely recognised you. It's like Egan's taken over your mouth" I look at him closely "I suppose Egan wouldn't dare possess you, would he? Too obsessed with you I suppose"

Kai ignores this with a sigh "it would be easier for all of us if you stayed away, it puts Egan on edge when you're around"

"It puts him on edge?" I repeat in mock horror "oh how cruel of me to put Egan under such strain, my heart _bleeds_"

"If you hate Egan so much then it will be no problem for you to keep away" Kai says, seemingly his mind is somewhat one tracked.

But I ignore him as a thought hits me like a catapult. Was Bryan…was Bryan…asking for my help? Is that why he showed me the body? He could never go against Tala himself, but he knows I could. But what can I do? It's not like I can murder Egan in his sleep, the guy's a spirit…I don't know how to kill a spirit. But was Bryan _really_ asking for my help? After all, he hates me.

Wow, he must be desperate.

I look back at Kai "in answer to your question I will have to say no" I reply in a hard voice "something's going on, and I'm going to get to the bottom of it"

This isn't what Kai wanted to hear, he folds his arms and gives me an impatient look "as I have already said, Egan would kill you in a flash"

"Egan will come after me anyway, as long as I'm around I'm a threat" I shoot back "as long as I'm around I'm a threat to his perfect life with you" I fixate my eyes on Kai and take a step forward "why are you really here, Kai? for Egan, or does he not know where you are right now?"

"I am here for him"

"I don't believe you" I whisper, I walk to him my eyes never leaving his as my voice lowers "I missed you like hell last night, I wanted you so bad I felt like tearing out my hair"

"That means nothing to me"

I search his eyes "really?" I murmur, "are you sure?"

He's so close, so near to my touch and yet he seems too far away; my hand reaches out for him, eager to touch him just know he's there. Just one little touch, just to remind me of what it was like to be with him. Kai stands tall and still; his face is icy but he does not flinch away when my fingertips are close to brushing-

There's a thump, a curse and the door behind me bursts open as it gives way to the weight of Tyson, Lee, Kenny and Hilary. They all look up from the floor rather sheepishly.

"We weren't eavesdropping" Tyson reassures me quickly; Hilary cuffs him about the ears.

I heave a sigh and turn back to Kai to find he's already walked passed me; with dignity he steps over the fallen idiots on the floor and walks from the sitting room. A few seconds later, the front door slams shut.

I close my eyes and push the hair from my face with a heavy heart; the others clamber to their feet with constant statements that they were definitely NOT listening in on the conversation. They bustle around me like flies buzzing in my face needlessly; only Hilary seems to know I need space, woman's intuition I suppose, and she ushers them out with insults and threats. Lee looks back at me and tries to call to me, but I turn away. The last thing I need right now is my best friend who never approved of my choice in lovers in the first place.

The door clicks shut behind me once more and I revel in the silence around me; the only sound is the gentle ticking of the clock as time passes on as if danger wasn't waiting for me just round the corner. And why should time care about me? After all, I am one person in the whole of the world; I am one blip in time. That's the beauty of time I guess, no matter what happens, time moves on regardless. I click my shoulder in to place with a grunt and a thought occurs to me suddenly.

Mariah does _know_ how to drive a car, doesn't she?

* * *

And there we go. This chapter was all in Ray's POV. And the main point of it was that Ray is determind to find out what Egan is really doing to Kai, Tala and Bryan.

I already have this story planned out in chapters, I know how many there're are going to be and what's going to happen. I like it when I have the story planned out, though it doens't happen often. I don't even know how I'm going to clean up **All Hell Breaks Loose**, I've already rewritten chapters one to four which I'm very proud of, but as the story continues the plot just gets messy. I was one hell of a bad writer in those days. Hopefully, I have improved somewhat...hopefully, haha!

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Please leave a review.

Kiki


	8. Found Rarely In A Man

**Review Replies  
**Suzanne: Thanks for the review, sorry for the HUGE wait! I hope the length of this chapter makes up for it!

Superxero: First, thanks for the review! Second, you probably can't remember all you said in your review by now but I loved it, lol! Anyway, I'm uuber sorry for the long wait, things just happen I guess...yeah, that was a pathetic excuse ^.^' I can only hope you enjoy this chapter!

Anonymus: ...Hey there, I can only beg for forgivness for making everyone wait for so long, especially when they all seem to be enjoying the story. I feel bad. Never mind, though, because I INTEND to get this story FINISHED! Anyway, thanks for the review! And I hope you like this new chapter!

* * *

My god, would you look at that? I've only gone and bloody updated this damn story AT LAST! I don't even want to know how LONG it's been.

The good news is that I now have this story completely planned out and I will be DAMMED if I don't finish it, so expect more updates for this story. I hope it makes up for the long-long-long wait and there's only so many times I can beg forgivness on my knees - for one thing, they start to hurt.

Anyway, after all that waiting, it's finally here. The latest chapter of **BONES REBORN **and it's a good long one, longest chapter yet as it happens. Thirteen whole pages! Yeah, for anyone who has a habit of writing eighteen pages or more, I'm proud of my thirteen pages, ok! Honestly, when I told my friend I'd written thirteen pages she was like "is that all?" and I was like "well SORRY, I didn't quite reach the hundred page mark, I know it's going to destroy the ENTIRE world!"

Sarcasm will be the death of me :P

Now, I will tire you no longer.

WARNINGS: Bad language - thanks to Bryan...and Tala. Attempted humour, truthfully some of it makes me cringe. Grammar mistakes? Spelling? Keep an eye out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, nor any of its characters. Any unknown characters most likely belong to me.

Enjoy!

* * *

**BONES REBORN**

**CHAPTER EIGHT: FOUND RARELY IN A MAN **

~Ray's POV~

The joys of walking a dog are few and far between in the pouring rain without an umbrella, but at least it's a chance to get outside under the sky, rather than sit at home watching the precipitation hit the glass over a thousand times. Even Butchie, who loves his walks more than an alcoholic enjoys licking booze out of a lady's stomach, is finding this particular saunter more evil than a taxman on payday. Although, unlike me, he has the advantage of taking shelter under the various benches without getting strange looks; imagine if I tried protecting myself under a bench…

I can't bear to think what Kai would say to that.

The water pours down my face in tears; the rain came on so fast it was like walking under a shower with your clothes on, not an event worth repeating twice in my book. The clothes become heavy and sodden, making them twice as difficult to take off which is rather aggravating if your sole purpose is at that time to take off said clothes and commit sexually gratifying sins in the shower with your beloved. The water gets in your eyes too, and don't even _ask_ about the soap.

Not that the experience wasn't pleasant in any way, I'm just not sure it was worth the muscle aching I suffered the next day.

Still, the water is pouring down my face for an entirely different reason now; rain, it's always the thing I relate to Kai in a way. Maybe it's the way rain seems to darken the world about it, making it difficult to see the detail around you. Yes, Kai is like the rain; quietly unpredictable with the skill of consuming all of you in its downpour.

And before you ask, the answer is yes: rain does have the ability to consume your entire being.

After all look at me.

Three paragraphs down and I'm still babbling on about it.

Taking a walk passed the hospital was not my original planned route, at least that's what I keep telling myself at regular intervals to try and forget the forbidden horror that lies a few feet underground – unless of course someone has found it already. No, I would have known; I've been checking the papers religiously, in search of reports of dead bodies. So far there's been nothing except a rather intriguing story about a row of dead squirrels found down by the river three days ago. This in itself isn't actually that interesting, the intrigue lies in the fact that each poor creature was killed by an object roundish in shape and made of metal.

Remind you of anything?

Between you and me, I think Daichi's been practicing his launch again.

He keeps trying to improve his aim, which is somewhat shoddy of late.

Whether he intended to hit the squirrels as target practice I'm not sure, animal cruelty seems a little beyond him; in any case, I think he regrets his actions, at least that's what I surmised when I spotted him paying homage to a picture he'd drawn of what I had first taken to be a sausage with a feather sticking out the end.

On later inspection, I discovered it to be in reality a squirrel, the feather at the end is in fact a tail; apparently Daichi is so bereft by his crimes that he's leaving gifts of nuts to the god of squirrels, which he has depicted in the drawing.

No, I didn't know squirrels had their own god either.

Butchie meanwhile has found a bone; something that scared me out of my wits to begin with, until I realised that, no matter how small the person was, it's skull couldn't be the size of a golf ball. Even Kevin's head is bigger than that. Maybe it belongs to another squirrel. One of Daichi's past victims perhaps.

Still, squirrel bones or no squirrel bones, it doesn't change the fact that Butchie has led me straight to the site of the body – the one place I really didn't want to return to. And yet, here I am; standing over a disturbed and wrecked patch of grass, somewhere off the beaten track as the rain begins to ease off at last. It looks like, as disturbed as the ground has been, no one knows of the rotting flesh that lies beneath. It's funny how it feels that even a gust of wind could blow over and the horror would be revealed to all…at least there's no one here to see that happening-

Except there is I discover on turning round to leave.

Bryan is sitting at the base of the tree, cold eyes staring at me like two laser points ready to fire; maybe it's slightly crass to compare Bryan's eyes to that of a superhero's, a super-villain might be the better phrase. I can't see Bryan Kuznetsov flying around protecting the innocent…destroying cities on the other hand…

"What are you doing here!" asks Bryan snappishly.

"I'm not really sure" I reply truthfully, "guess I can't get this place out of my mind"

"You better not have fucking told!"

"Of course not" I shake my head "though it's not right, someone should send an anonymous message to the police or something. It's not right to leave the guy here, and what about his family?"

"Who gives a shit about his family!" Bryan snarls, "I tell you now, Kon, if any of this gets out to the police or any crappy paper I'll break your fucking neck!"

I don't answer; there's no point, I hardly think Bryan is going to hand himself in to the police for the crime he's committed but I know I won't either. It's not as if I saw the murder, I only know where the body is; maybe I should call the police, inform them of the location without giving my name. At least his family could stop worrying. But Bryan is glaring at me as if wolves will grow from the trees with the sole purpose of tearing me limb from limb; he's not stupid, if the police found out about the body I'd be at the top of Bryan's hit list. What he'd do to me I don't know, I also don't put it passed him not to harm someone around me just to make his point clear.

"Can I ask something?" I ask hesitantly.

"No!"

"Why did you show me the body? I mean, what was the point? You took a risk, didn't you? I might tell someone, so why bother?"

"I told you! To warn you off! Leave Tala and Egan alone!" Bryan replies harshly "or you'll be next!"

"So it was a warning?" I answer moving closer to him as behind me Butchie shows a tree all he possesses underneath "or a threat?"

"Take it as you want!"

Hmm, I'm not getting through to him; he must hate Egan, there's no other way of looking at it. It's clear as the nose on his face that he's obsessed with Tala; so with that in mind he must hate Egan. But then where do I come in to that? There was no need to show me the body; a simple threat from his lips would have done the job just as well, and Bryan wouldn't be taking the risk of prison should I tell anyone. There has to be another explanation, another reason why I know about the body at all.

"Bryan, do you like Egan?" I kneel down in front of him.

Bryan snorts "what's that got to with anything?" but the pure hatred in his eyes gives him away, the clench of his fists is so passionate his knuckles crack and Butchie jumps back from him.

"You don't, do you?" I whisper softly "Egan is attached to Tala and you can't stand that"

"Fuck off! What do you know!" the falcon bares his teeth.

"But where do I come in?" I continue despite the growing glare on his face "did you show me the body to see how dangerous it was to be around Egan?"

"It was to make you fuck off!"

"There were other ways of doing that" I reply "and anyway, as you can see, if it was your plan to get rid of me, then it hasn't worked"

"It was supposed to!"

"Bryan, we're enemies," I reason with him "you know me almost as well as you know yourself. Surely you knew that showing me something like this wouldn't scare me off. You knew I would get curious"

"I know you're stupider than I thought you were!" Bryan sneers, "any smart fool would have run the other way!"

"Maybe" I concede "but you know me better than that, don't you? I'm not smart enough to walk away, in fact finding out it's got this far would just make me stay"

"I didn't know that!"

"I think you did" I stare at him, trying to read his face, trying to break through that wall and see what lies beneath. But he's locked down harder than Kai "you can trust me, Bryan, tell me what it is you're trying to hide"

Bryan snorts and looks away grumpily "I don't have a clue what you're banging on about"

"Don't you?"

I think for a moment, searching for a reason why Bryan would want me to know about the body. Does he want me to know how far it's got? Is he trying to warn me? Why would he do that? He doesn't like me so I doubt very much if he cared whether I lived or died. Maybe it's a threat. If so, it hasn't really worked. So why doesn't he threaten me again? Put a knife to my throat and warn me to leave Tala and Egan alone…

Tala and Egan…

Not Kai.

Why would he tell me to leave Tala and Egan alone? It was Kai I was attached to after all. Tala and Egan – why would I need to leave them alone? To be perfectly honest I couldn't care less if I never saw Egan again…so that must mean Egan is a threat to me…but why would Bryan give a damn about that? He wouldn't care if Egan killed me, in fact he'd enjoy watching me fight in vain against a ghost, wouldn't he?

He would, unless that fight would involve Tala…

I look back at him "this isn't about me, is it?" I say quietly as a thought strikes "it isn't even about Egan or Kai…this is all about Tala for you, isn't it?"

Bryan's eyes narrow and for a moment it looks like he's going to hit me, but he says nothing; he doesn't need to, his silence tells me everything I need to know. This _is_ all about Tala. It always was for Bryan and now I'm feeling like an idiot not realising this before; the falcon doesn't give a damn about me so he won't care about the little triangle I've got myself in to with Kai and Egan. But behind the lines, Tala is mixed up in all that, involved because he's the older brother of Egan and for all his sins he won't leave Egan behind.

"Tala's caught up in this somehow, isn't he?" I ask slowly "because he's Egan's brother?"

"Shut up! You don't know a fucking thing!"

"Egan wants rid of me because I'm a threat to him being with Kai" I think aloud "that's why Kai wants me out of the picture, because he doesn't want Egan to kill me. But that doesn't explain what Tala means to all this, he's just the spare part…nothing would happen to him no matter what happened-"

"What do you know!" Bryan spits so violently I start and inch backwards from him "you know nothing!"

"So tell me" I answer eagerly "you want…what? My help?"

"Like I'd want YOUR help! What the fuck could you do!"

"Then, you want me to know something" I press "something important to you…that involves Tala. What is it?"

"I'm telling you fuck all!"

"But you admit there's something to tell?"

"No!"

"Come on, Bryan" I _urge_ him "you want to tell me, you want me to understand something. But I can't do that if you don't tell me what I need to know. Maybe I can help-"

"The best thing you can do is fuck off!" Bryan snarls.

"Not before I know what it is I need to know" I say stubbornly "I won't go anywhere until you tell me what it is you're hiding"

"You-!" Bryan stops from calling me something foul because so many adjectives spring to his mind that he can't decide which one to use. He glares at me, ice in his eyes and a look of murder about him.

But, even now, after all this time and knowing what he's capable of, I still can't find it in myself to be scared of him. Because I understand now: I now know that he's desperate, because for some reason Tala's in danger and he doesn't know what to do about it. He flummoxed for a way to save Tala and the best thing he can think of is to make me understand that.

"If I don't know what danger Tala is in then I can't help" I point out in encouragement "you have to tell me"

"I don't have to _say_ anything!" the falcon shoots back "all you have to do is fuck off out of it!"

"Why?" I demand, "you've tried to kill me before, remember? You hate me, why would you care if Egan killed me? You wouldn't care if I walked under a bus"

"Ha, I'd dance on your grave" says Bryan sourly.

"Right, so you don't care if Egan wants to kill me" I surmise, I hold up my hand "except that you do. You don't want Egan anywhere near me. Or rather, you don't want me anywhere near Egan. Why? How does it affect Tala?"

"Because Hiwatari would choose-!" Bryan stops talking so fast he almost cracks his head open on the tree behind; his eyes widen in alarm, but then he bares his teeth and growls at me.

Too late, I latch on to his last words and lean in closer "Kai would choose what, Bryan?" I stare in to his pale eyes "what were you going to say?"

He looks back at me, anger still plastered all over his face; but in that anger, there's frustration, not directed at me but at himself. And I know why. He's been so locked up in being a soldier all his life that he never knew he could make his own choices and decisions, but he never had to because he was always told what to do. That's changed; Bryan has a decision he wants to make himself, a choice he wants to pick of his own accord but he has no idea how. He wants to tell me whatever it is that's practically falling off the tip of his tongue; except no one told him it was alright to speak his mind out loud.

How do I break down his walls and get to the truth.

"Talk to me" I murmur, "whatever it is, just tell me. It's alright"

Bryan says nothing, to make matters worse he clamps his mouth shut.

"I'll do it," I add in slight desperation "I'll do whatever you want me to do, if you just tell me"

In honesty that's probably a lie: I will whatever it is I deem right and screw Bryan's opinion, but lets keep that between ourselves for now.

"That's enough, Ray"

It's truthful to say that the sudden voice which loomed out of from nowhere startled the pair of us, and neither of us failed to notice that the direction of the voice came from behind where…uh…the body is buried.

What?

So I've seen too many of Tyson's zombie movies.

It looks like Bryan has too.

We both stare at the ground, expecting a dead rotting corpse to sit upright and start talking.

Instead of finding a decaying face looking at me, I find a pair of feet that stand splayed right behind me with as an annoyed look about them as any feet could. I nod my head in understanding: there's only one person in the world that has feet with the ability to look annoyed. I lift my head higher.

"Hello, Kai"

Kai folds his arms as he looks between me and Bryan who slouches motionlessly against the tree; slowly I stand up, wanting to be on the same level as the phoenix. There's a silence that drifts on with only the odd bird noise to break it; over to my left somewhere Butchie has sat down, obviously bored, having run out of things to sniff. Apparently he's completely missed the definite odour of a rotting corpse; at least I now know never to enter him in to the police force, he'd be the most useless drug squad dog ever found.

"What are you doing here, Ray?" Kai asks making me jump just at the sound of his voice.

"Taking Butchie for a walk"

Kai glances at the dog that is now lifting his back leg up interestedly. Don't worry, Butchie, it's still _all_ there "in that case you should continue down the path," says Kai "the rain has stopped for now"

He came here to find Bryan; I realise, to check up on him. That would be the only reason he would be around here at all; that means he knows what Bryan knows about Tala, but unlike Bryan he doesn't want me to know, and he's told Bryan this. That's why Bryan won't tell me; I was wrong, Bryan has got his orders. And for the first time in his life he's trying to disobey them. I look back at Bryan who's sullenly looking at the ground, and then I turn back to Kai.

"What's going to happen to Tala?" I ask.

For a second Kai looks taken aback and his crimson eyes flicker to Bryan "nothing to concern you" he replies.

"That's a lie" I answer quietly "something is going to happen to him, isn't it? Or it will if I stick around? What is it?"

"I've told you all you've needed to know, Ray" the phoenix warns.

"No, you haven't. You haven't told me the half of it" I glare slightly "the only one that's trying to tell me anything is Bryan"

Again Kai looks back at Bryan before returning to me "I'm only going to repeat what I said before, stay away from us"

"If you want me to stay away so bad then why don't you go crawling back to Russia!" I snap, losing patience. Bryan was inches away from telling me and now I've lost my only chance. I just feel like I've missed out on something so important, and that's because of Kai.

"Egan wants to stay in Japan, at least for now"

"So he can gloat over me no doubt!" I give a dry laugh "what happens when he gets bored of lording it over me? Is he going to kill me?"

"That's why you should stay away from us," says Kai emotionlessly "unless you have a wish to die"

I snort in derision "oh please, you know as well as I do! Egan is going to kill me whether I stay away or not-"

"I won't let that happen"

Kai's eyes widen.

I stare at him completely taken; for a moment, only for the briefest moment, I saw Kai's guard fall. And all my niggling doubts just fall away; he is pushing me away to protect me, he's trying everything he can think of to keep me away so Egan won't hurt me, the rising anger in me dies "even if I returned to China" I say softly "Egan would always come after me, don't you see that?" I try to search behind that wall, looking to find a way to keep Kai's unguarded focus on me "he wants you, Kai, and as long as I'm breathing I'm a threat. We all know that"

Kai says nothing; it's gone, the Kai that forgot to protect himself is gone and the walls are higher than before, but I'm not giving up yet.

"Bryan said you would choose something," I ask, "what is it?"

I'm too late. Kai turns away, his back towards me; he regards Bryan one last time and walks away through the trees. Dammit, I lost and I know it. Even as I stand there Bryan doesn't move but goes back staring furiously at the ground; I try to make contact with him, trying to reach that part of him that was willing to tell me the truth despite his orders. But it's gone.

It's all gone.

My one chance.

* * *

~Max's POV~

Ahh, nurses in tiny blue dresses, nothing like 'em! I stretch and yawn languidly; in the end I had to stay overnight at the hospital, due to various events that all concluded in me lying in the middle of the road with some random naturist freaking out with a dead squirrel in his hand.

Daichi strikes again!

Still, not that I'm complaining much: that nurse could plump up my pillows all night, Tyson is going to be SO jealous! And, contrary to popular opinion, the food wasn't all bad, pretty tasty really. All in all it could have been a lot worse, though it sucked to be in bed the whole time.

But back to where I am; in the park at present, walking through various trees and passing various dogs all of which put Butchie to shame. There's that old man who sits on the bench at the same time every day, we all have different theories about why he sits there every day.

I think he sits because he's waiting for his dead wife to return to him once again.

Tyson thinks he sits there to feed all the pigeons that crowd around his feet.

Daichi thinks he's sitting there to watch the pretty unicorns fly by – yeah, none of us believe that one.

Kenny thinks he sits there to wait for the PO-T93 Box one thousand – no, I don't know what that is either.

Hilary thinks he sits there because he gets tired after walking half way through the park.

Ray thinks he sits there to breathe in the fresh air and remember his past.

Of course, none of us have actually bothered to sit down next to the guy and ask the simple question. But where's the fun in that? On the next bench is a young couple that are in very great danger of getting arrested for indecent behaviour if they're not careful, hey if they're enjoying themselves then it's probably worth it. And on the bench after that is…Kai?

"Hey?" I say stopped by the bench and giving the guy a second look "you're Kai, right?"

"I had assumed that after all the years we've known each other, you would by now recognise my appearance"

"You'd be surprised how many people cosplay you" I reply reasonably "and some of them are scarily good, the one we met on Halloween with the hook driven through his neck scared me half to death"

"Because clearly I often walk around with a hook in my neck"

I sit down beside him and reach in to my pocket in search for my house key "what are you doing here anyway? We don't usually see you in the park"

"There's a reason for that" Kai replies carefully eyeing the couple to the side who are now…doing dog impressions? "this place isn't sanitary in the slightest"

"True" I admit "but it's the only proper place to walk Butchie without walking miles"

"No wonder the dog is mad"

I can't argue with that one.

"Have you been discharged from the hospital?" asks Kai.

"Yup, just this morning" I say thinking Kai could do with a little more concern in his voice "I was going to get a lift back, but Ray said he was walking Butchie in the park near the hospital so I came here to meet him"

Kai says nothing.

"…Have you seen him?"

"I have"

"And are you two back together yet?" I ask hopefully "everyone wants you to do that, you know. We all know you're hurting"

"If I am in any pain then it's certainly no concern of yours"

"Come on, Kai, how long were you and Ray together before we all found out? A year? Longer? Ray is crazy about you and-"

"Max" Kai interrupts "I have no interest in Ray's sanity or in how much you all want to rejoin us. What's done is done"

"But it can be changed" I point out "I know you still care about Ray"

"You know nothing of the sort"

"Alright, then tell me why you're sitting on a bench in the park looking more like a wet blanket than a human being"

"I'm waiting for someone"

"For Ray?"

Kai pauses, then says "Tala"

"Liar" I accuse "you want to see Ray again, don't you?"

"As I said, I'm waiting for Tala"

"He's going back to China, you know"

Kai's eyebrows dip "Tala's going to China?"

"No, idiot!" I sigh "Ray! Ray is going back to China"

Kai glances at me and then looks away "I wasn't aware of that"

"Is that all you're going to say?" I gasp in frustration.

"There's nothing else to say"

"That's not true either! Do you WANT Ray to return to China?"

"That's his decision alone"

"Come on, Kai! Don't do this! Don't lie! How could you possibly want Ray to go to China, you care about him, remember! Don't tell me you don't because I won't believe you! And you're the only one who can stop him-"

"Kai"

A shadow falls over me and I look up "huh? Tala?"

Tala rests his blue eyes on me "my goodness, I had no idea the Bladebreakers were capable of recognising anything that wasn't spinning or cooked for twenty minutes beforehand"

Sometimes Tala can be so cruel.

Kai stands up.

"You mean you really _were_ waiting for Tala?" I sputter.

"I'm not in the habit of lying"

"But that doesn't mean you don't want to see Ray again, right?"

Kai ignores me and shakes his head at Tala who opens his mouth; instead the wolf completely disregards me and turns back to the phoenix "where is he?" he asks shortly.

"In the trees" Kai replies, "I can't control him"

Tala's eyes narrow "I can't believe he would ever disobey any orders we give him"

"He's on the verge of doing so, and to Ray no less" the phoenix contradicts "you need to stop him before he does so"

Tala growls and looks furiously in to the trees "I can't believe this!" he snarls, "the one person I thought I could always rely on to keep his mouth shut! Why the fuck is he betraying me like this! And to that _neko-jin_ of all people!"

"Not to butt in or anything" I proffer a proprietary finger "but who are you talking about?"

I am ignored.

Completely and totally.

I might as well have been talking to the pigeons for all the answer I got.

Bastards.

Kai and Tala, not the pigeons.

"I believe he's got it in to his head that he can…" Kai pauses and glances down at me "he hates Egan, you know that"

"That's nothing new!" Tala spits "he's always hated Egan! But he's never gone against _me_ like this!"

"He thinks he's trying to stop this"

"Oh does he?" Tala snorts and turns on his heel "well he forget being a part of the team! By the time I'm done with him, that falcon is going to be _broken_!"

"Falcon?" yup, I'm still trying to be part of the conversation "you mean Bryan?"

…

It's like I don't exist!

Now I know how Tyson feels every time he tries to tell us he's smart.

The two Russians begin to walk away and I jump from the bench "hey!" I shout "what about Ray?"

Tala stops abruptly and growls over his shoulder "you and that crippled tiger better stay clear!"

However it's Kai I look at "you can't forget about him, Kai!"

They begin to walk away again, Kai's back telling me to stay away.

"This isn't over!" I call after him "as the saying goes, it's not over until the fat lady sings!"

From behind me there's cry of shock and insult.

"Are you calling me FAT!"

I look over my shoulder.

Ah.

* * *

~Ray's POV~

Sometimes Butchie really is a stupid dog. Come to think of it, his name's pretty dumb too; I've no idea what Tyson was thinking, and while I'm on the subject I don't even know why Tyson still has this thing. I watch said dog bounce in excitement barking furiously at its enemy as if his life depend on it.

That enemy would be a chocolate wrapper somebody has dropped at some point.

I sigh and throw the lead over the dog's head before he barks himself in to his grave. Dragging onwards I pass a small family who are taking their new puppy for a walk; the poor tiny thing takes one look at Butchie and keels over in shock. I don't disagree with the dear thing, Butchie would scare me half to death if I were a puppy; one glance at him can send little old ladies in to a state of hysterics.

Pulling along my brain returns back to Bryan and Kai. What are they keeping from me? Is it really to do with Tala? Sure, he's Egan's older brother so he's not going to be happy with the guy standing in the way of his brother's happiness. Does that mean he's done something? Something stupid that's put him in danger?

Stupid?

Tala?

Those two words just aren't connected.

But something's got Bryan in a mess; whatever it is Bryan doesn't know what to do and he's scraping the bottom of the barrel when he talks to me, he's _that_ desperate. Who knew Bryan could be crazy enough to care about someone that much. In the end, I suppose, the only thing Boris achieved was to suppress their emotions for a while; now they're in the real world, where emotions are paramount to everyday life, those feelings come creeping back. Except, they just don't know how to handle them.

In a way, it's kinda sad.

Bryan's obsessed with Tala, everyone with a lick of sense can see that, but have they ever thought what turmoil it must put Bryan in, to feel something when he was brought up to believe that emotions and feelings were void? That they made you weak? And what about Tala? Boris didn't make him the Captain of the team for nothing. Does Tala feel anything at all? He must do; if he didn't give a damn about his Captaincy, the team would have fallen apart years ago. And what of Egan? Surely Tala feels something for the ghost that was once his younger brother.

And then there's Kai.

Kai just seems to have got lost in there somewhere; he was the grandson to Voltaire Hiwatari and in line to be Biovolt's top blader…that is, until the Bladebreakers barged on through with their strong ties to each other and their belief in what they were doing. And me, what did I do to Kai? If feelings are a forbidden thing to have then I must have messed Kai up pretty bad without even realising it. I guess I just never thought about it; all I knew was that my feelings for Kai weren't dying, and he was returning them.

So where does that leave us now?

Meanwhile Butchie stops again, cutting through my thoughts as he starts barking more viciously than before; I try pulling him back but he just goes crazy and yanks at the end of his leash.

Then I look up from the dog, to see what it is that's got him so riled up.

I see.

I guess, even Butchie knows a real enemy when he sees one.

I pull the dog back harder and bring him to my heel; he whines awkwardly and sits down looking bewilderedly up at me before snarling again as the object of his frenzy takes two steps forward.

I take one step back.

This brings forth a smile on the other's lips.

I glare.

"What do you want, Egan?"

* * *

~Max's POV~

Craziness is a very lucid term I find; for example, I have long since believed that Daichi is either an alien, or at least someone who was abducted at birth and sent down some years later after trials of human experiments and studies.

Because there is no way anyone in this world can call that boy normal.

Then again, the way Hilary loses her temper sometimes also makes a person believe that her sanity is sometimes less than stable; though, after years of being glued to us guys, who can blame her. Tyson too has had moments in his life where we have believed that the kindest thing to do would be to put a gun to his head and put him out of his misery.

Me. When do I appear crazy?

Well, I suppose it's at those times where I have a really wonderful idea.

You know, one of _those_ ideas.

The ones that seem clever at the time, but later turn out to be a complete mistake.

THIS is one of those times; I don't even know what I was thinking, I realise, as I gaze in to the cold hard gaze of Voltaire Hiwatari. OMG, how did I ever find myself staring in to that ugly mug again? This is all Kai's doing; if he wasn't living with his grandfather then I would have nothing to worry about, damn that phoenix. Why couldn't he just buy a nice cosy apartment somewhere with a 92-inch TV and a hot tub? But no, instead he has to go and live with his mad old grandpa. You remember him, the one that tried to take over the world using beyblade and children.

Because of course to use children and spinning tops is completely normal when you want to rule the world.

I think Kai's sarcasm has finally begun to rub off on me.

I clear my throat.

And smile.

Voltaire Hiwatari snarls between two saggy lips "how dare you come to this place?" he sneers "how dare you come to this place _dressed_ like that?"

I look down.

Ok, so maybe the bright pink and blue-stripped trousers are a little OTT, but in my defence I didn't have any spare clothes in the hospital and this was all they had. It was these or a pink mini skirt.

Imagine Voltaire's face if I'd come dressed like _that_!

"Um, I'm here to see Kai" I say carefully "I was wondering if he's in?"

I know he's in.

I know he's in because I've just spent the last two hours hiding in a holly bush waiting for him by the entrance to Hiwatari manor; I've got the scratches and scuffs to prove it. Voltaire Hiwatari looks down on me for a moment, casting a disgusted glare at my blue and yellow bumper trainers – man, this guy has no taste! – before sneering again and baring his teeth.

"My grandson should not mingle in such company as yours"

It's little bit late to say that, granddad; we've been hanging around Kai for the best part of his teenaged life.

"Please" I press, I didn't spend two hours with a holly branch stuck up my ass only to be turned down now, it'll be weeks before I can sit again – honestly, I don't know how Ray stands it "I just want to see him, it's urgent"

Voltaire lifted an eyebrow "urgent it says"

He could at _least_ refer to me as male, rather than an inanimate object.

"It would only take a few moments of his time" I prod on trying to be polite as possible; that's quite a difficult thing to do when the whole time I want to shove a sock in his mouth.

"And why should I listen to such a request?"

Because if you don't, I will grab that conveniently placed fire poker and hit you with it.

"Because it's really in Kai's interest that I should see him now" I say pressing my rather loud thoughts down in to the recesses of my skull.

"In his interests? And what interests would they be?"

They would be the gay sexual interests he has for another man.

"Um, it's kinda personal" I smile.

"Personal?" his grandfather repeats.

Seemingly, having failed to take over the world with beyblade, the crazy old goat is now going to become the world ruler by annoying everyone to the point of distraction.

"And these _personal_ interests…" Voltaire continues languidly "are they in confliction to what is expected of him?"

Probably.

"Of course not" lie, Max "in fact, they're exactly what you expect of him"

"Disappointment you mean, _failure_" Voltaire seethes "loss, dissatisfaction. These are things I expect of my grandson, and you tell me these personal interests that you speak of are consistent with THEM!"

Um, yup.

"What? Oh no!" I shake my head "you see, what I thought was-"

The door opens and Kai walks in looking around the room; he takes in his grandfather, my trousers, his grandfather, and me again before directing his gaze back at Voltaire "is there a problem, Grandfather? I heard voices"

Kai heard voices, did he?

Well said, Captain Obvious.

Maybe he came in here hoping his grandfather was talking to himself and losing his mind; Voltaire points a slow accusing finger at me as if it's my fault he failed to take over the world "this _boy_ says he has a need to speak with you, Kai"

"I see" Kai looks back at his grandfather "in that case I should speak with him, and settle any matters he has brought"

"And do you think that is wise?" asks Voltaire "have I not told you before to stay away from rubbish like THIS?"

"Max Tate is a well known figure amongst the blading world"

"I find that hard to believe, see the state of his trousers!"

Kai looks.

Really! They're not THAT bad!

"Nevertheless, it would be rude not to hold this meeting, Grandfather" the phoenix replies "if you would excuse us"

My mouth falls open. I had no idea Kai could order his grandfather about like that; apparently, neither did Voltaire. He snarls in anger "HOW DARE-"

"Grandfather, Max Tate has come to see me personally. You were not part of the invite, it would be more than discourteous to ignore the rules of the invite" Kai says smoothly.

Voltaire looks as if he's about to say more, but Kai looks at him with a confidence I've never seen him use with his grandfather and Voltaire backs down; baring his teeth as if a dog impression would say all that was needed, he sweeps from the room passed his grandson and the door slams behind him.

"Amazing, Kai!" I cheer, "I had no idea you'd grown strong enough to speak to your grandfather like that!"

Kai doesn't reply, instead he gives my trousers another studious look.

"Honestly!" I protest hotly "would you have preferred it if I came in a miniskirt!" then I think for a moment "on second thoughts, don't answer that"

Kai's eyes narrow slightly, but he returns to the subject in hand "what's the reason you're here, Max?"

"Don't you know?" I demand.

"I learnt long ago that I would never know anything about the Bladebreakers"

Somehow, I don't think that's a compliment.

"I'm here about Ray"

Kai sighs, "I thought I said there was no more to discuss on that matter"

"That's not what I think!"

"You realise it's not actually any of your business" the phoenix counters "whatever lies between Ray and myself is our own concern"

"Not when you're a Bladebreaker!" I say triumphantly.

Kai sighs again, this one more out of annoyance, but obviously he knows me better because he realises I'm not going anywhere until I get what I came for. I came here to discuss Ray and that's what we're gonna do "I still fail to understand why you're so caught up in Ray and I"

"Because Ray is my friend, and so are you!" and, I'm nosy!

Kai wanders to the window and looks out over the grounds "I'm not going to continue dating him, if that's what you're asking for"

"Because of Egan, right?" I guess.

Kai nods.

"But not because you've suddenly fall in love with Egan, I won't believe that for a minute!"

"Then what do you believe?"

"That you're doing it to protect Ray! You know, as well as everyone else, that Egan wants to kill Ray because of what happened between the pair of you. So you think that to protect Ray from Egan you have to stay away from him, and that way Egan won't get jealous. Am I right or am I RIGHT!"

"No"

"You see, Kai, I'm not as silly as- what do you mean no!"

"I mean, you're incorrect in your assumptions"

"So you're not trying to protect Ray?" I ask feeling as if I've lost the thread of conversation somewhat.

"It's not Egan I'm protecting Ray from" says Kai still watching over the quiet grounds of Hiwatari Manor.

* * *

You know, I find it interesting that I'm writing a story about an evil ghost when most ghost movies scare the wits out of me. Funny old thing me!

Well, there we are! So, the question everyone is DYING to know! What has Tala done? And you know something? I know the answer, wanna know how I know the answer? Because the whole damn thing is planned inside out! YAY!

Seriously, this is the story I plan to complete next, it's only got about three more chapters to go and I want to finish it, so this is the story I want to be updating next!

Anywho, please leave a review - I looked at how many this story had the other day! A whopping forty-two! Where they all sneaked in from I don't know, last I checked it was something like twenty-eight!

Thanks for reading!

Kiki

Kizzes!


	9. The Tiger Vs The Ghost

**Review Replies  
**Suzanne: Thank you so much for your ever faithful reviews! This story is almost over now, TWO chapters to go...which is kinda sad in a way. Aww, look at me getting all soppy! Anyway, thanks again and I hope you enjoy this chapter! Kizzes!

* * *

HEY THERE! So, as promised - wait, I actually kept a promise...OMG, I must be ill! - the newest chapter of **Bones Reborn**; you know, part of me is kinda sad this story is coming to a close. This is the sequel to my first ever story on FanFic (awww!); still, everything ends eventually I suppose and we only have TWO more chapters to go. I did try to make it three but there wasn't enough for three chapters so I bunged it in to two instead, hopefully that doesn't mean it's rushed.

WARNINGS: Egan. Bad language. Possible grammar errors.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, nor any of its characters. Any unknown characters most likely belong to me.

You know, when I first started, I had difficulty writing three whole pages...but these days I have trouble keeping to twelve. Sheesh, now that my writer's block has gone it seems everything is zoom-zoom-zoom!

Anyway, enough of that.

Enjoy!

* * *

**BONES REBORN**

**CHAPTER NINE: THE TIGER VS. THE GHOST**

~Ray's POV~

I found him, and then I lost him; to stay in this park for more than two hours is heavy on anyone, even Butchie is starting to show a little exhaustion. But if I go home, will Egan follow me? I can't simply just walk in to my shared home and lead a dangerous enemy straight in to the path of my friends; so I've stayed here at the park, and Egan has been following me.

I've seen him here and there, glimpses of him through the trees, dashing from one to the other along whatever path I walk; once he's even joined me on the path, stayed a few steps away with that sneaky grin on his face like it's all a game. I suppose it is a game to him; something to entertain himself with until he gets bored and moves on to the next thing. But before he could do anything another dog walker turned the corner and was on the same stretch as us.

So Egan disappeared back in to the trees once more.

He kept doing that, drifting in and out of my sights, driving Butchie mental every time he did; the dog is like an alarm, every time Egan comes in to his range he barks his head off. He doesn't like Egan, I can tell that much.

Thinking about it, I've yet to find someone who actually _does_ like Egan.

A challenge if ever there was one…

"Hey there, Ray, I was wondering if I'd bump in to you"

One is bound to bump in to one when one has been following one all around the park.

"What do you want, Egan?" I ask for a second time coming to a stop and pulling Butchie back on his leash, beside me the dog gives a soft growl and moves his head side to side. He can see, I realise, what Egan is or, rather, what Egan isn't.

Here before me stands a ghost, a person who once breathed in the air and had a heart beating blood about his body; now all that remains is the shadow of that same person, a rotted corpse left far behind. I was supposed to be Egan's chosen vessel to live again, part of a plan to be human and be with the people he knew once more – those people being his brother, Tala, and of course Kai who he holds with a regard like he holds for no other.

What part Bryan plays in this plan I'm not quite sure…

…Probably family _pet_ or something.

And me.

Well I got in the way of that, didn't I?

Kai wasn't supposed to be into someone else, I wasn't supposed to be his lover or even exist in Kai's heart at all. I ruined everything, and brought Egan's plan crashing about his ears. Now he's trying to take Kai from me, trying to ruin my life and me…

But that isn't bothering me.

At least, not right now.

What I really want to know is who it is Egan is now possessing; he was inside the man Bryan killed, but they simply couldn't allow that. Had anyone found out the truth, it's hard to imagine what would have happened next; so that person had to die. Or so Bryan saw it; he was probably thinking about Tala when he did it. Tala is Bryan's everything, just like Kai is Egan's everything.

And once again, I'm standing right in the way of his happiness and dreams.

I have to go…

…So why am I still here?

"Are you planning to possess me again?" I ask calmly. Fear is there inside of me, but not knowing the truth would be the worst of all outcomes "is that why I'm still alive?"

"And let you miss all the fun?" Egan laughs, "no way, I want to see your face when you realise it's all done for"

"But it is all done for" I point out "you have Kai now, he doesn't want to see me anymore, you win"

"Yes, I'd like to think that too" Egan muses looking up at the sky thoughtfully "but it won't be long now, soon Kai will have no choice but to come back to me"

Soon?

"I'm sorry" I reply "I don't really understand what's going on, haven't you got everything you wanted?"

"Ha!" Egan laughs and faster than light his expression changes, a manic anger heats his eyes but his mouth is still smiling "everything I _want_? What makes you think that! I have nothing! Nothing at all! All because of you!"

"It's my fault?"

"Of course it's your fault! Everything is your fault!"

Global warming too?

"If you weren't here Kai would be MINE!"

"Then why am I here?" I ask, my head tilts to the side "you could have killed me ages ago, but you didn't. Why?"

"Because I want you to suffer as I suffered!" Egan snarls, "it's not fair, you get everything you want! All the time! I threaten your LIFE, I tell Kai if I see him with you again I will KILL you and yet somehow he manages to still see you, still talk to you! How can he still WANT YOU! You're NOTHING! LESS THAN NOTHING! And there's me, powerful and amazing, and STILL Kai wants you!"

Jealousy a bitch, huh.

"So I wanted to watch you HURT!" Egan hisses furiously, all traces of the smile vanished leaving nothing but rage "I wanted to see your face as everything you yearned for was snatched away from you!"

"But it _has_ been snatched away" I persist "you have everything-" except Butchie "-I've suffered"

"NOT NEARLY ENOUGH!" Egan howls "not even close!" he stops, panting savagely "but can't matter anymore" he adds angrily "no matter how much I want to see you pay, it has to end"

"What?" I say, taken aback by this sudden change in the flow of conversation "what has to end?"

"You" Egan answers shortly "you have to end, you simply can't exist anymore"

I don't reply at once and in my place Butchie barks his opinion, the noises echoing slightly; this side of the park is the less inhabited side, not many walkers come down here because it's out of range of the town so only the most dedicated of dog walkers are the ones to use this path…

…Not that I claim to be a dedicated dog walker you understand.

But right now it's empty, even of the old lady who brings her old mongrel down here at least three times a day – now THAT'S dedication; there's no one here save Egan and I, maybe that's what Egan wanted. We can hardly have a discussion on how he's planning to kill me in public now can we?

"Time to kill me then?" I whisper, "even though you clearly haven't had enough fun torturing me?"

"Yeah, that does disappoint me" Egan admits, "Kai is still caught up on you, and I wanted to make you a fool in front of him"

"That was never going to happen" I tell him before my head manages to stop me.

Egan's eyes flash angrily "and what's that supposed to mean!" he demands "you and those Bladebreakers are STUPID, it's easy to make you in to fools!"

"Not where Kai's concerned, it's not" I disagree shaking my head "you see Kai already knows what idiots we are, but we the Bladebreakers nevertheless…and the Bladebreakers belong to Kai, we're _his_ idiots. Foolish as we are, Kai is our Captain, a role he will never give up" I glare "no matter how much you threaten him, no matter how you try to keep him away, Kai will always be the Captain because the rest of us wouldn't dream of calling him anything else. And that's something you could never hope to change"

"You're lying!" Egan spits "Kai doesn't want to be _your_ Captain anymore! He knows how rubbish you are!"

"You mean you've told him we're rubbish and expected him to suddenly believe that" I lift my eyebrows "you really think that worked? Honestly, if you think that, then you're the fool"

Egan growls, "what did you say!"

"You can't change feelings of someone else just because you tell them, it doesn't work like that. Loathed, as Kai is to admit it, he likes being the Captain of the Bladebreakers. Forcing him away and ordering him to think otherwise won't change that, if anything that would only strengthen his feelings for us"

"Ha, that's just not true! I know, Kai told me himself that he didn't want to be a part of the Bladebreakers anymore!"

"You mean after you told him you were going to hurt us? And what about that lime jacket?" yeah, it's been bothering me all this time, sad I know "I bet you told him to wear that as an experiment yes? To see if Kai would actually obey you?"

Now it's Egan's turn to lift his eyebrows "I'm planning to kill you, planning to rip your heart right out of your chest…and you're talking about a lime green jacket?"

"I hate lime green" I mutter, Butchie yowls in agreement.

"You're right of course" Egan continues "I know Kai hates to have anything buckle his pride, wearing a colour he didn't like was the perfect way to test his loyalty to me"

"And on that basis you then believe that Kai is under your complete control?" I ask.

"Well of course, how could he be any different?"

I stare at Egan; he couldn't be this stupid, surely he knows that Kai has only lied to him to appease him. Doesn't he even suspect Kai might be lying to him?

And then I realise.

Egan's not stupid, he just doesn't know any better. He grew up in Biovolt; a place where orders are obeyed without question and with complete belief. If Boris told them the skies had turned green and the world was full of frog people they would have accepted this as pure fact without doubt.

Imagine a Bryan that believes in frog people…

I digress.

That's the reason Egan doesn't know Kai is lying; he hasn't been in a world where orders can be disobeyed and forgotten, and as for feelings – that useless part of one that gains nothing in strength – he believes they can be changed in the blink of an eye.

That's truly what he thinks.

With that in mind I suppose there's no point in reasoning otherwise, he simply won't listen.

"If you believe Kai is so truly under your control, then why do you plan to kill me?" I ask again "with your reasoning there's no doubt Kai is yours forever, to kill me is surplus"

"That's what I thought" Egan agrees, then his face darkens "until I found out how much digging you've been doing"

"Digging?" I repeat.

"Yes, Tala told me all about the research you've been up to, the harassing of Bryan and all that" Egan explains wafting a hand around "and even I can't have that, you're discovering too much…way too much. It's time for you to leave"

I guess packing my bags and moving back to China doesn't really cut it.

"And what have I been discovering?" I challenge him; if I'm going to be killed I might as well milk it for all its worth "what secrets don't you want me to know, Egan?"

"If I don't want you to know them, then what makes you think I'm going to tell you?"

Man, if Egan had been Tyson he would have so totally fallen for that.

"Come on, I'm dead now anyway right? What's the harm in telling me the whole truth?"

"You mean Bryan hasn't already blabbed?" Egan looked surprised, and then he thought about this "Tala must have gotten to him"

"Tala…" I murmur, "he's got something to do with all this, hasn't he?"

"He is my brother"

"That's never bothered Bryan before"

"Hmm, Bryan has always hated me" Egan affirms, "I suppose it's because I get in the way, I distract Tala and he doesn't like that"

"He probably doesn't like the way you change Tala" I contradict.

"I? Change my brother?" Egan laughs as he thinks about this "I guess I do in a weird way, he's always making sure no one knows what I am, I suppose that's why he did it"

If neko-jin ears could stand mine would have been straighter than a ruler "did what?" I question, "what's Tala done?"

"Oh, haven't you figured it out?" Egan gives me a superior look "I would have thought you would have been able to work it all out by now, what with all the secrecy and the dead guy"

The dead guy? The one Bryan killed? The one Egan was possessing?

"Is this all to do with who you're possessing?" I gasp, "is that what Bryan was trying to tell me?"

"You tell me" Egan answers "you're the one that's desperate to know"

I don't understand; there's been no reports of any disappearances, save of course for the guy now buried near the hospital, could it be Egan's taken over someone I know? Or someone powerful? If so, why aren't there any reports? Kai's a powerful figure in the city but not even he can cover up stories about people who are missing.

"Come on, figure it out" Egan teases, "don't I look any different to you?"

I stare at him, trying to understand what he means; he looks the same to me, from the blonde hair on top of his head to the lithe body twisting beneath him. And yet…maybe there is something…in the way he stands…or…

No, not in the way he stands, nor in the way he looks. But there's something about him that's…brighter, powerful…

Something familiar to me.

"No?" Egan shrugs "oh well, I'm bored now anyway" he sighs longingly and shakes his head in disappointment "I'm sad it has to end this way, I wanted to see you suffer more before I killed you myself, but seemingly it was not to be"

"Killed me yourself?" I reiterate "isn't that what you're going to do?"

"If only" Egan bemoans "but no, not me. Tala won't let me, he says I would take too long and you need to die quickly"

"I see" slowly I release my grip of Butchie's leash; I'm not going down without a fight and I'm gonna need both hands. Unclipping his lead I drop it and gesture at Butchie to run.

As usual the dog is completely useless and stares at me instead.

Thank god Tyson didn't get him for his intelligence.

"So how is this going down?" I return my gaze at Egan "are you going to get Bryan to kill me the same way he killed the other guy?"

"What?" for a moment honest confusion passes Egan's face and he blinks "what are you talking about?" and then he realises and laughs with mirth, before telling me something that changes everything all over again "Bryan? You think _Bryan_ is going to kill you?"

"He was the one to kill the other guy, why not have him take me out too?"

Egan laughs some more "you've got it all wrong!" he smiles brighter than I've ever seen, apparently seeing a joke in all of this "Bryan hasn't killed anyone!"

* * *

~Max's POV~

"Huh, you're not protecting Egan from Ray?" I blink rapidly "what do you mean?"

Here Kai sighs and closes his eyes "maybe one day I can expect a conversation with a Bladebreaker to contain at least some intelligence"

"Hey!" I complain, "that's hardly fair, I just don't know what you're talking about. I thought Egan was the evil one"

"As if it were as cut and dry as that" the phoenix muses to himself "all of this would have been over before it had even begun"

"Kai!" I go to the window and force him to face me "you're not making much sense! Who are the evil one if not Egan!"

Kai lifts an eyebrow "the evil overlord who wants to take over the world and now condemns those who do not have a daily intake of meat pie"

"Don't try and be funny" I sigh, "you know it doesn't suit you"

"In that case don't play this as if it's a common hero vs. villain movie, it's not that simple"

"Meaning?" I encourage.

"The chances of you understanding are minimal at best"

"Now look here, Kai Hiwatari" I wag a finger at him warningly "if you think insulting me is going to make me get angry and walk off in a huff then you're wrong, that trick won't work anymore!"

Kai says nothing, which means more or less he's admitted I'm right; a rare novel feeling befalls me, it's been a while since Kai has put aside his belief that all the Bladebreakers are dumber than zebra playing with a pride of lions.

"I'm not going anywhere, Kai" I say stubbornly "if Ray's in danger then I want to know, and I want to know now"

"Ray has been in danger from the beginning"

"But now you're implying it's not from Egan, I thought the whole point of this was that Egan was the one who wanted Ray dead"

"That's true enough"

"So, what's new?"

"Egan may be the one who wants Ray dead, but right now, he's no danger to him"

"Why?" I demand, "tell me, Kai"

"Because Ray's run out of his chances" Kai mutters "and there's nothing I can do to change that now, I have no choice"

"What's that _mean_, Kai!"

"He shouldn't have bothered Bryan so much" Kai whispers to himself as if he's forgotten I'm there at all "I warned him to stay away"

"Kai, what-"

The door slams open, smacking to the wall behind and knocking a painting from the wall; no one is going to miss it, the picture seems to depict a naked old man wearing only a loincloth holding out a knife in one hand and a decapitated head in the other.

Voltaire's taste in art is…original; I'll give him that.

Bryan bursts in to the room passed a manservant that screams under the glare that presses him to the wall; sweeping through Bryan looks around the room like a bulldog looking for the cat, he spits when he sees Kai standing by the window with me and anger seems to boil up inside him.

"What's the meaning of this?" asks Kai turning from the window his arms folded.

"You _BASTARD_! YOU DID THIS!" Bryan drags something out of his pocket.

"Kai, that's a knife!" I cry out.

Not in time.

The falcon launches at the phoenix – _bird_ on _bird_. God, that has to have some sick connotations somewhere. If Kai was prepared for this attack he certainly doesn't have time to act; Bryan's on him blade flashing in the light coming in through the window. I shout in alarm and look around for something attack with while on the ground Bryan and Kai struggle against each other. The room is filled with things not heavy enough to do any real harm, and the furniture is too large to move; my eyes rake around and around in search of anything to stop the battle on the ground.

The coffee table is knocked askew, sending a glass filled with wine skimming to the ground spilling its dark red contents on the floor to look like blood. I growl at myself in desperation; Kai's strong, but even he can only battle so long against Bryan.

I run to the mantelpiece and grab a roundish object without bothering to look at it; turning round I realise with horror that Bryan has the knife just inches from Kai's neck, the only thing saving the phoenix is his hand blocking it-

I don't think, I charge forwards with a roar and bring my weapon down on Bryan's head kicking at him as I do so; whether this actually made any lasting on Bryan I don't know, but it sure took him by surprise. With a curse he falters and glances over his shoulder with a snarl at me.

The chance Kai needs.

In a flash the tables turn, and Kai's on his feet the knife safely lodged in his hand; Bryan rises to his feet also, intent in continuing the fight. But with the knife in his grasp Kai has the advantage and he kicks Bryan sending the falcon sprawling backwards in to the futon that crashes over under the sudden flying weight.

"Thank you, Max" Kai says taking a breath and lowering the knife.

"No problem, Kai" I hold up my object "this thing was pretty useful"

"It certainly adds a certain questionable style" Kai admits.

Puzzled, I look at my weapon.

I scream.

"What the heck!" I drop it "Kai, that's a _skull_!"

"I had noticed"

"But what's a SKULL doing on your mantelpiece!"

"Not much until you used it to knock out Bryan"

"That's not funny!" I squeak, "who the hell is it!"

Kai pauses for a moment "judging on the room, I think it to be my father"

"What do you mean _judging by the room_!"

"My grandfather has various skulls dotted around the place, you'll have to ask him if you want to know the actual identities"

"And you don't think that's a little ODD?" I gasp.

"I find it stranger that he attempted to fit the whole skeleton on the mantelpiece"

"Is he INSANE!"

"That was my opinion" Kai agrees "there's no chance a whole skeleton would fit on there"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I _MEAN_!"

Meanwhile, there's a grunt from the futon and then a loud curse as Bryan struggles to regain his balance seemingly in battle of his own with the piece of furniture. A moment later however, a head pops up from over the top with a hand clasped tightly to the back; apparently Bryan is in some pain and he blames me as he glares at me.

I point at the floor "it's a skull!"

Bryan rubs the back of his head and looks "what the fuck!"

Apparently, hitting one's skull with another skull really does hurt.

"My father was known for consuming milk in his time" Kai explains, "it probably strengthened his bones"

Bryan nods without interest, and then scowls "I thought that was your grandmother"

Kai pauses again "I forget the order in which they were placed"

"Do you think we could forget the identities for a moment and get back to the fact that your grandfather has a tendency to put the heads of his family on the mantelpiece!" I ask whisperingly. I look about the room "I mean, am I the ONLY one who's a little bit freaked here!"

There is a time in everyone's life where the world stands to attention, when the words you speak are considered wholly and justly right, to be revered to all and loved therefore…

This is not one of those times.

Kai has turned back to Bryan who has succeeded in wrestling himself from the futon in order to stand up; he now glares at Kai, the reason for his sudden appearance and anger returning to him. The phoenix meanwhile has glanced down at the knife that isn't lacking in sharpness and sure as hell doesn't look like the blade will detract in to the handle any time soon.

"You came here with a purpose" he comments.

That's one name for attempted murder I suppose.

"It's no more than you deserve!" Bryan snarls.

"I take it, by your savage expression, that this has something to do with Tala"

"He's kicked me off the team, you bastard, all because of you!" Bryan glares.

Somewhat to my surprise, Kai glares back "I had to stop you" he says in a harder voice "there is no way I'm allowing Ray to know any of the truth"

"Too late!" Bryan snaps, "he already knows enough! Too much!"

Kai's eyes widen "how could he? I stopped him in time"

"No, you didn't!" Bryan sneers "you were too late, that freak's figured out most of it by himself! All he needs now is a little push from Egan and he'll know everything!"

"He knows it has something to do with Tala" Kai replies "that's all, it's not enough"

"It's more than enough, Kai!" Bryan snorts, "don't you get it! You think you've been playing Egan this whole time, it wasn't Egan you had to keep under control!"

"I know I'm doing"

"Like I believe that!" the falcon laughs "if that neko-jin had found out the truth then he would have packed up his bags and GONE! But no, you had to keep it a secret and now they're going to fight! Tala's not going to risk Ray finding out the truth now, if he gets there in time your precious tiger is going to die!"

"That's not going to happen"

"Then you're going to have choose, Kai!" Bryan hisses in a poisonous voice "choose between them…" his eyes hardened with fury "EXCEPT I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU!"

And with that, he launches himself at Kai.

* * *

~Ray's POV~

"I don't understand" I whisper.

"Would you rather I wrote it down and signed it?" asks Egan cynically "Bryan hasn't killed anyone"

I gaze at him uncertainly; of course I had assumed Bryan had killed that guy, but did he ever actually admit to it? Thinking about it, I don't believe I ever heard Bryan saying he had; he'd told me the man had needed to be killed in order to protect Egan, but he never said he was the one that murdered him. That was just my assumption.

But why wouldn't I think that?

Have you _met_ Bryan Kuznetsov?

The guy's hardly what I would call in tune with humanity, and he would do anything for Tala – even kill.

"Then…" I answer quietly "who did kill that guy?"

Egan smiles again; a slow cruel smile that spreads across his face with increasing intensity, he likes this game: he likes to tease me like this. It's almost better than sex for him. Why give me the answer straight away when he can draw it out for as long as possible; the fun last so much longer then, and I seem all the more weaker for it.

But even so it isn't Egan that answers my question after all; my answer steps out from the trees, the light falling on him as he moves from the shadows. Tala comes to stand behind his brother, like a soldier behind his leader and gives me a long cold level stare; the jacket he wears is a thick black one, and as he stands he dips a hand in to his inside pocket.

What he brings forth is a knife, long and slender.

"I would prefer to use a gun" he says calmly checking the slice of the blade against his finger "but it would make too much noise" his forefinger twitches away as a pearl of blood beads out from the skin. The knife is sharp, that's for sure.

"Tala?" I look from him to Egan and back again "…but Bryan?"

"Hmm?" Tala glances up from his knife "yes, Bryan was more than prepared to kill that guy, but by the time he'd come to that conclusion it was too late" a small smirk touches Tala's lips "he always was slow off the mark" for a moment his gaze drops to the ground "fool"

"You killed that guy?" I feel Butchie pawing at my foot, some vague attempt to get my attention I suppose; though, right now, Butchie could pull out a copy of Harry Potter and start acting as Voldemort and I still wouldn't notice.

"He had to die" Tala reasons, "there was no way I could allow him to live after being possessed by Egan"

"But his family?"

"What about them?" Tala shrugs "I don't care about them, why would I?"

"Then who is Egan possessing now?" I demand "some other poor stranger who you'll have to kill when he leaves their body?"

"No, that would have caused too many problems" Tala agrees, "I had to think of something a little more permanent for Egan to use"

"And that was?"

Tala chuckles, a sound colder than the winters of Russia "no, Ray, I don't think you'll be finding out anything more. Egan has had his fun, and I'm not prepared to let anyone else in to our little secret. It's time to get rid of you" he stops and appears to think for a moment "although…maybe I should rethink that, what Bryan said is true-"

"I still don't see why we can't use my new powers!" Egan suddenly complains as Tala pushes passed him.

Pursing his lips Tala stops in his tracks and glowers back over his shoulder "don't you dare!" he snaps "there's been enough mess created by you, it's time you gave up this little game!"

"You're no fun!" Egan pouts "my new powers are amazing, I could kill him in an instant"

"That's a matter of opinion!"

"What's wrong? You KNOW the power I have! It's all powerful-"

"But not unbeatable!" the wolf cuts off "it's a risk I will not take!"

"Oh come on!" Egan laughs "against _him_! Please, I could take him with my eyes closed!"

"I learnt a long time ago not to underestimate the Bladebreakers" Tala replies switching his gaze back to me.

Yes, I was stupid enough to stand there like an idiot while Tala wasn't paying any attention…there goes my one chance of escape.

"What new powers is Egan talking about?" I try to search for emotion in Tala's face but there's nothing, just the blade flashing in my under the light.

"The pop quiz is over" Tala comes forward lifting the knife; I wonder if he expects me to just stand there while he slits my throat "you should have just stayed away like Kai told you" a smile cracks his face "I wanted to get rid of you to begin with, the moment Egan returned, but Kai seemed determined to keep you alive. I played along for a while, but now I just can't keep to the sidelines any longer"

"Why?" I take a step back "come on, Tala, you owe me the truth if you're planning to kill me"

Tala snorts, "I owe you nothing"

"Don't I deserve to know the reason for my death at least?" Butchie growls as I take my second step back, weighing the odds. Tala and I are of the same height and weight roughly; my advantage is my knowledge of the martial arts, my disadvantage is the soldier training Tala's had since he was shorter than a coffee table.

"I've never been one to give to those deserving" Tala explains "it takes too much of my time"

"But perfectly happy to kill for those who are finished" I shoot back a glare passing my features.

"Egan is my blood"

"Wrong, he _was_ your blood. He's a ghost, Tala, a shadow of what he was"

"You bastard!" Egan snarls, "I'm alive!"

"Alive?" I lift my eyebrows "I think that's the one thing we can all agree you're not" I answer as Tala and I continue our dance, he coming forwards while I head back. I recall the path without having to glance over my shoulder, but even so, with Tala creeping closer like that and being such a distraction, I stumble over a couple of stones.

"Careful now, we can't have you falling" Tala sneers "and you're right, Egan isn't a living human like us, but he's certainly alive…and for a long time yet"

My eyes widen "what does that mean?" I think momentarily "does this have something to do with the new body he's possessing?"

"You could say that" Tala nods; he tightens his grasp of the knife and it suddenly occurs to me that Tala isn't so stupid as to suddenly attack me on a random path. No, he's got a plan; and, judging by his preparation to strike, I'm heading straight in to it.

I have to distract him, do something; in situations like these trying to make the enemy talk is usually the easiest approach, but Tala doesn't seem eager to talk and he's smart enough to cotton on to what I'm doing…

Egan isn't though…

He hasn't got his brother's training.

"Giving Egan powers was a little dumb, wasn't it?" I challenge, "who's to say a simple spirit like him can handle them?"

"Don't listen to him!" Tala snaps smartly, but he needs to keep his attention on me so he can't turn to properly order to Egan, something I use to my advantage.

"Just think about it, Tala. You've clearly given Egan a power along with the possession of a body" what that can be I'd no clue, though I'm beginning to seriously doubt it's a normal human being Egan is possessing. He has power…that begs the question of what this world has that has power…

A thought strikes me.

It couldn't be…

"You've made me real curious" I continue "there isn't much in this world that has power, is there? Makes me wonder if you're not lying about having the power at all"

Egan laughs, despite Tala's hiss to keep quiet "oh I have power alright!" the younger boy snorts over the wolf's shoulder "it comes with this new possession of mine"

"Comes with it, huh?" I goad "what? You mean like it's electric or something, can you light a bulb without flicking a switch?"

Egan laughs again, this time louder "oh you wish! I could do that and more-"

"Be quiet!" Tala snarls.

"-But you should know all of what a Bitbeast is capable of"

I stop, Tala curses and whirls round on Egan to berate him. A Bitbeast? I blink, trying to comprehend how that's even possible; I watch Egan, the way he moves and the way his head turns. That look I saw before, that familiar look…now I know why it's so recognizable.

"A Bitbeast?" I say out loud "is that true?"

"You were supposed to keep it secret!" Tala swipes Egan across the head, forgetting about me completely "no one was to know, what part of that simple instruction didn't you understand! Fool!"

"He's dead anyway!" Egan argues back "there's no way we can lose! With my POWERS there's no way we can lose!"

"Oh yes there is! I told you the Bladebreakers are unpredictable and surprisingly powerful when the situation called for it!"

"Like I believe that, my powers surpass his, there's no way they couldn't!"

"First of all, the power isn't your, it belongs to Wolborg! Second, there is no way to determine who would win in a match between Wolborg and Drigger, that has never been tried before!" Tala glowers down at his brother "I will not risk my own life just to test that theory!"

I freeze in place; I had been in the careful process of getting out of there now that the chance of escape had risen again, but Tala's words have me spinning back around to face him "what's that supposed to mean?" I ask sharply "why is your life at risk at all!"

There's a silence and then Tala sighs irritably; he turns back round and lowers the knife for the time being "well you know the truth now, you might as well know the rest!"

I ignore this, still focussed on one point "Tala, are you in danger?"

"My-my, worried about my well-being, Kon? I didn't realise you cared" Tala smirks.

I try again "how is this possible?" I whisper, "surely ghosts can't just possess any random Bitbeast"

"The Bitbeast can possess the soul of its blader when it's called for" Tala replies easily "why shouldn't it be able to join with another spirit?"

"But, just like that? It's that simple?"

"Wolborg had to take my permission first, but yes, it's that simple" Tala shrugs "the best part is, Egan is now untouchable. His life force is connected to Wolborg's, and a Bitbeast isn't so easily killed, even in this day and age"

"But there's a catch, isn't there?" I insist, "there has to be, Bryan wouldn't be so messed up if there wasn't"

"Yes" Tala pauses for a moment "he wasn't happy about it, not even I have ever seen him so mad…still, it was not his choice to make"

"What wasn't?"

Tala grunts in annoyance "must I really spell everything out?" he sighs, as behind him Egan smirks gloatingly like he's the only real important person in the world. And I should have taken a clue from that; no caring brother would want to place his siblings in danger, I have none and even I know that much.

"Egan is possessing Wolborg" I murmur "that can't be possible…and yet…" I glance back at Tala "what about you? Can you still use Wolborg as your Bitbeast?"

"I doubt I'll be playing a beyblade match any time soon"

"But Bitbeasts are connected to their masters" I persist "surely he would not be happy being the power sauce of Egan"

"That was not Wolborg's choice to make either. He has his command"

"And what was that? You said Egan is now untouchable, couldn't Wolborg simply release his spirit at any time?"

"Not without my permission"

"I see" I wonder for a moment and then comment "you've got a pretty good deal there, so why was Bryan so against it?"

"Bryan was against it because you want rid of Egan, so do the rest of the Bladebreakers. It wouldn't be long before you were trying to think of ways to release Egan from Wolborg" Tala tilts his head "tell me, what would you do?"

That's easy.

"Challenge him to a match" I answer "if I win then I have the power to take Wolborg for myself, from there on I can command him to separate from Egan"

"That was quick off the mark, I congratulate you" the wolf's face darkens "but that will not happen, I won't allow it" he glances over his shoulder at Egan "you two will not fight"

"Bryan knows that" I realise "but that wouldn't bother him, there's something else isn't there? Something that affects you"

"There is another way to release Egan" Tala admits "destroy him for good in fact"

For the first time Egan stops smiling "you're really going to tell him? But you promised Kai!"

"A promise can only go so far, I'll admit I was reluctant to tell the truth, but…" Tala smiles crudely "now I think of it, if Ray knows everything then there's no way he can win, he simply hasn't got it in him"

"But Kai said-"

"Forget Kai for a moment!" Tala snaps, then he looks back at me "Bryan wanted Ray to know, and now so do I. For the first time that falcon was actually right…" the scowl fades and Tala's blue eyes soften "I spent so long not listening to the fool, I actually missed it when he was trying to tell me something that would ensure everything worked in our favour"

"What is that?" I ask softly "what's the secret?"

"There is another way to destroy Egan" Tala repeats calmly "kill Wolborg"

I look at him in surprise "kill Wolborg? You can't kill a Bitbeast"

"Of course you can, you can kill anything if you really try" now the grin is black and the look on Tala's face is manic "that's the secret, Ray. Because there's only one way to kill a Bitbeast…"

"How?" I ask, though the answer is not something I truly want to know.

"Simple. You have to kill its master"

* * *

SHOCKER! This was where it all got a bit complicated for me, I kept having to return to the previous chapters to see if I'd left out any gaps; the two hour times skip almost had me. I hope it doesn't show, I guess that's what happens when you leave a story for such a long time.

ONE more chapter to go and then this story is OVER...well, for you anyway, I'm going to have to rewrite the first four chapters before I'm satisfied with it, not to mention continue with my WHOLE rewrite of **All Hell Breaks Loose**. I got a lot of rewording to do T.T

But that's not for today.

Please leave a review, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Thanks for reading!

Kiki

Kizzes!


	10. All For Him

**Suzanne**: This is the last chapter I'm afraid. I did try to make it two, but that didn't work so I just shoved it all in to one long finale. Anyway, thank you for your review and for all your support you've given my stories, it is greatly appreciated and welcome! I do hope you enjoy this last chapter!

**Brette**: Thanks so much for your review! I'm glad you liked the chapter and hope you like this one! You're actually encouraging me to kill off Tala, my my, lol! I will just say that Ray doesn't harm one hair on Tala's head...actually, that might be a bit of a lie, never mind, read this last chapter and you'll find out, lol! I'm so happy you like the story and I hope the ending does it justice.

* * *

And so I present the very last chapter of **Bones Reborn**, well my goodness I didn't think we'd ever get there. Still, here we are anyway!

As I may have said I was going to make it two more chapters, but in the end I couldn't think of anything to put in so I just pushed all my ideas in to one chapter and left it at that which I'm not entirely sure I regret. Though I enjoyed writing this story it feels good to FINALLY have it complete and over with. That sense of satisfaction that I've completed a story is just so thrilling...until I remember I have another EIGHT to finish T.T

So, for the last time I give you disclaimer and warnings.

Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade, nor any of its characters. Any unknown characters most likely belong to me.

WARNINGS: Character death. Bad language. Possible mistakes.

Noteling: As it was rightly pointed out to me it is perfectly possible for a bitbeast to live on without its master, meaning that in theory that even if Tala did die then Wolborg could still live on. Of course this completely wrecks my whole story line, haha, but seeing as I'm WAY too lazy to change the story at this stage I figured I could just make this AUish, after all there aren't actually any ghosts in the beyblade series...unless you count those vampire, werewolf weirdos in the first season (I can't remember their names, something like Dark Bladers) who were just bizzare. Were they actually ghosts, or just freaks that the Majestics beat? I can't really remember now.

Anyway, without further ado or comment I give you CHAPTER TEN!

May you enjoy!

* * *

**BONES REBORN**

**CHAPTER TEN: ALL FOR HIM**

~Ray's POV~

I stare at him utterly speechless; Egan starts to berate his brother for putting them both in danger, claiming that now I know the whole truth their time in this life is now limited. Tala laughs at this as if it's the best joke he's heard in a while; he seems light, as if he didn't have a ghost for a brother but a rather normal yet stupid sibling that needs to be locked up every now and then. As if his life wasn't in danger; it's odd, you'd think he'd feel some resentment towards Egan for putting him in this situation.

It is what it is, huh, Tala. I never realised he could be so content with sacrifice; I never even knew he had any inkling to what sacrifice might be.

Don't judge a book by its cover, I suppose.

"So…all I would have to do…is kill you and all this would be over?" I ask slowly, finding my voice as the laughter from the wolf dies down and Egan pouts his lips looking sulky.

"Got it in one" Tala holds out his hand "do you want the knife now, or time to decide what you'll do with my body afterwards?"

I look from the knife in his hand to his face and back again "what are you doing?" I whisper.

"Helping you out of course" Tala's smile is dark "you've never done this before I expect, it really isn't as difficult as the world would have you believe. The human body is after all a very delicate thing, weak some might say"

"Put that knife away," I say in a stronger voice "we all know I wouldn't hurt you, that's why Bryan wanted me to know the truth right?"

"Yes" Tala's smirk softens a little "he knew hell would rise from the ground before you would resort to that method. Never say Bryan doesn't know his enemies"

"But you didn't want to tell me"

"I was against it, I'm no coward" Tala affirms "but either way I had no choice, I made a deal with Kai after all"

"A deal?"

"He didn't want you to know the truth, he knew you would leave if you did. You'd return to China in an attempt to solve the whole issue"

I think about this. Returning to China would have been the notion I would have come up with; it would be running away and in retrospect it probably wouldn't work in the end, Egan ultimately wants me dead…moving to another country wouldn't solve that. But, at the time of consideration, returning to the White Tiger Mountains would resolve everything.

"I don't understand why Kai wouldn't want that" I reply "if I went back to China then all this would have been solved weeks ago" there's a snort of dissatisfaction from Egan but Tala ignores him.

"Simple" Tala sneers almost laughing again "the phoenix was actually being selfish for once, he didn't want you to go, even if it did put you in more danger"

Kai wanted me to…stay?

I gasp, my eyes wide–

Then it hits me.

Kai would rather I _died_ than moved to another country?

Some boyfriend I landed myself with.

Maybe he needs to reorganise his priorities somewhat.

And while he's at it, he could buy a filing cabinet for his office.

"So you promised to keep it all secret?"

"Yes"

"Bryan too?"

"Yes, after a fight" admits Tala "it seems I didn't manage to get through to him, however, not that it matters now. You know too much, I don't mind the fact that you know how to destroy Egan or Wolborg, we all know you wouldn't kill me…but I draw the line at the body"

That takes me by surprise.

"What? Why? I haven't told anyone"

"For now" Tala agrees "but I don't believe you'll keep your silence for long, and that I cannot allow. That body must stay hidden, or too many questions will be asked" he glares "you weren't supposed to know about that body"

"Really?" I lift my eyebrows "it was the first thing Bryan showed me"

"Hmm, had I known that we would have dealt with this sooner"

"What if I promised not to tell?" I ask, it seems worth a try "would you let me live then?"

"Ha, NO!" Egan laughs out loud "like I would ever let that happen!"

"Be quiet!" Tala orders sharply "no one wants your opinion!" he turns back to me "you can promise all you like, until the cows come home if you want" he answers "you know too much, and you have too strong a sense of right to keep quiet. I don't trust you on this matter"

"But is killing me really the only way?"

"You bet it is!" says Egan vehemently "I won't rest until your blood is on my hands!"

"I told you to shut up!" Tala repeats shortly "if you keep lifting your voice someone will hear you!" he glances at me, knowing what it is I'm trying to do.

"You realise I'm not going to just stand idly by while I let you kill me, right?"

"You don't have much of a choice" Tala replies "either you die quietly and quickly, or you put up a fight and die slower. Whatever your method, the outcome is the same"

He takes a step forward again, seemingly tired of my vague attempts to stall; still I don't know what his plan is, and the idea of escape that I had hoped would appear in my thoughts is still as elusive as Tyson's table manners.

"I don't understand why you plan to kill me with a knife" I say for the simple excuse of speaking "when you could so easily destroy with Wolborg's powers"

"That's what I've been saying!" Egan agrees.

My gods, we actually agree on something.

Egan pulls at his brother's arm "let me finish him!" he urges, "it'll be over in seconds!"

This I can't deny and, when I think about it, fighting against Tala with a knife is so more likely to rule in my favour rather than Tala with Bitbeast connected with murderous ghostly brother.

"I keep telling you _no_!" Tala growls irritably "I will not risk it!"

"That's an odd tern of phrase" I comment "I didn't think there was anything you wouldn't risk in order to keep me quiet. Why so reluctant to use the power, Tala?"

"None of your business!" Tala snaps, "stop talking and die quietly!"

I wonder if he actually expects me to obey that latest command.

I doubt it, he knows the Bladebreakers better than that.

"You could kill me in an instant with Wolborg's help" I point out again "why won't you? I'm completely unprotected here"

"Oh?" Tala lifts a dark red eyebrow "you mean you haven't got your beyblade sitting in your pocket?"

I stop as the truth dawns on me; of course I have Drigger in my pocket, I'm a champion blader after all. And like all the other retired champion bladers, I feel strangely naked without my blade even though I no longer use it.

So that's what's bothering him, is it?

"Yeah, you're right" I answer "I do have Drigger with me, and that's the problem, isn't it? Because I'm not _unprotected_ at all"

"Pfft! Like that matters!" Egan jeers.

"But it does" I persist looking back at Tala "because in all our combined years of touring round the world blading, we never actually once fought each other, did we, Tala?"

"Clever little Raymond-"

I _hate_ to be called Raymond.

"-Figuring it all out" Tala chuckles "I suppose I can give the Bladebreakers enough credit to know that in the end, eventually, they do figure it all out"

"We never fought before…" I repeat thinking aloud "I've never really thought about it, but in a match between us I wonder who would win…" I look back at Tala; I've got him now "you don't know, do you?"

"In match between us?" Tala shrugs "I would naturally, it would be tough I'll admit, but in the end I would win"

"…Would you?" I confront him "I did beat Bryan after all…"

"Nearly killing yourself in the process" Tala points out in hard voice.

"Nevertheless, I won" I remind him "sure, it was almost the end of me, but none of that actually matters because it was my victory, I reckon that makes me a pretty strong opponent"

"Not so strong that you could beat Kai"

I smile; that was a last resort move, Tala knows full well that I couldn't beat Kai, but he also knows he couldn't either "there aren't many who could" I agree "but that means, that us in a battle would be pretty fairly matched, that's something you can't risk, is it?"

"I already told you I would win" Tala grits his teeth.

"Know that for certain, do you?" I ask, but I don't need the answer.

No, Tala isn't sure he would win against me, he thinks he can but thinking and knowing are two separate things; he doesn't want to take the chance that Digger might beat Wolborg.

When it comes right down to it, Tala doesn't want to die.

"You're all connected" I look between the three of them "one dies, you all die, that's quite a risk, I can understand why you don't wish to-"

"Risk my ass!" Egan shouts "I could rip you to pieces with my bare hands if-"

"Except you're not going to do that" the wolf cuts him off "we're going to do it MY way!"

"It's not fair!" Egan snarls at him "what's the point of having this power if I don't use it!"

"It's to keep you alive, isn't it?" I look to Tala "that's the only reason you gave it to Egan, right?"

Tala says nothing.

Egan however looks furiously from him to me and back again "is that true!" he demands, "what about that line you gave about it being MY power to use on whoever I wanted!"

"That was to stop you from possessing some poor stranger no doubt, Tala was thinking on his feet at the time" I supply earning myself a glare from Tala, which proves I am both right and dead the moment Tala gets his hands on me.

"Shut up!" Egan turns his growing anger on me "I don't want to hear it from you!"

"Why? Because I speak the truth…"

An idea starts to form in my head; a crazy idea, better than Tyson's notion that all his fans, female and over seventeen of course, should stand in a line around the world and strip naked for him. He was stupid enough to say this in a live interview broadcasted to half the world; we're still getting threats from angered boyfriends even now. At least my idea has a little sense to it; if I can push Egan far enough to snap, there's no way Tala will have any hold of him.

He's barely keeping control of his brother as it is.

Egan's desperate to use his powers; the only thing stopping him is Tala's word and soon that won't be enough. Which gives me a chance, if I can get Egan to use Wolborg it'll cast Tala's attention on to Egan rather than me, giving me the chance of escape. It's not much of a plan, but it beats standing neatly toes pointed straight while Tala slits my throat.

Part of me wants to fight, and I could put up quite a battle with Drigger at my side; but then the issues surrounding this delicate balance would be undone. Tala doesn't know if he could beat me with Wolborg, but then again I don't know if I could beat him with Drigger. And in all honesty I don't want to beat him; it's not like I want to kill him after all, Egan's a different matter but what with the way he's attached to Tala now I can't touch him.

I don't want to hurt Tala.

Though I have NO idea when I got so fond of the guy…

"Tala was never going to let you use your new powers, Egan" I say out loud "he wouldn't take the risk, he doesn't trust you enough"

"You're lying!" Egan breathes fierily "you're only saying that for your own ends!"

Yes I am, but you'll fall for the trick anyway.

"How can I be lying?" I ask in return "has Tala let you use them before now? Has he told you he trusts you with Wolborg's power? Has he told you he trusts you at all?"

"I-" for a moment Egan looks unsure while Tala snarls at me knife back in his grasp tighter than ever.

I dodge out the way as he lunges at me; he's faster than I gave him credit for I realise as the blade barely misses my flesh, things are falling apart for Tala which is bad for me, but whether they're worse for me is something I've yet to discover.

"Is that right?" Egan throws at his brother "don't you trust me!"

"Not like he trusts Bryan" I slip in, I look back just as Tala makes a grab for me, catches me by my clothes and slams me in to the nearest tree; I grapple with him lashing out to keep the knife at bay.

He's stronger than I expected too; like all his muscle has been hardened in to rock, there has to be another way to unsettle him.

"Look at where this has all got you, Tala!" the knife flashes passed the side of my face, less than an inch from my eye, I turn my head and fight back still unable to release myself from his grip "you should have listened to Bryan it seems! The falcon was right, if you'd told me everything I would have just left!"

"Who cares about that?" Tala sneers, "that wouldn't have been enough for Egan"

"I'm not talking about Egan, I'm talking about you!" I gasp savagely as we continue to wrestle; he gets in a punch, knocking the wind from me and I buckle. Sliding down the trunk of the tree proves dangerous as Tala towers over me knife ready; quicker with my neko-jin traits, I dodge left, effectively out the way of the blade but not so much I escape Tala "he didn't want this for you, he didn't want you to be in this danger! That's why he came to me in the first place!"

"Stop talking about Bryan!" the wolf snaps, "I have no interest in that traitor!"

"Traitor is a strong word" I reply in surprise "I wouldn't have thought you cared about Bryan that much for it to really bother you"

"Of course it bothers me! He disobeyed an order!"

"Is that all that bothers you!" I answer back with a little anger, is there no getting through to this guy. Why won't he just stop? "Bryan disobeyed an _order_, that's all you care about?"

"He's never done that before!" Tala snarls "I don't take kindly to disobedient fools like him!"

"He only did that to protect you!"

Wait a minute…am I _defending_ Bryan here?

Oh Lord, what has befallen me?

"He did it to stop you from putting yourself in danger!"

I catch Tala round the face swinging my claws in to his cheek for all I'm worth.

Apparently, I'm worth quite a lot; Tala falls back with surprise from the blow, I pull free of his grasp and quicker than the wolf realises I swipe the knife from his loosened hand.

"All he was doing was trying to save you, because he wants you to stay alive" I pant looking down at the fallen wolf who lays on his back eyes closed also breathing hard "amazingly, by some freak chance, he actually gives a damn about you"

"Really?" Tala opens his eyes and icy blue gaze up coldly in to my golden "well I never asked him to"

There's a silence between us as something clicks inside me; all this time the whole world has known of Bryan's obsession with Tala, even in the Abbey from the little bits of information I've gleaned from Kai. Bryan has always followed Tala around like the soldier born to serve; practically everything he does is for Tala, the papers have had a few field days with it.

But no one ever thought…the possibility never even crossed their minds that…

…Tala felt the same?

Could it be true?

Can Tala even care for someone like that?

He was trained not to, like Bryan was; except all this time the wolf has seemed so more in tuned to what Boris drilled in to them, more than any of the other members of his team were.

But his face now. That glare is defensive, sulky even – trying to hide something.

"Feelings are strange, aren't they?" I say quietly searching for reaction, almost hoping for the possibility that I might be right "no matter how you fight them, they just grow stronger"

Tala says nothing; instead he closes his eyes again, the glare on his face fading away.

"It doesn't have to be like this, Tala" I urge him "Bryan doesn't want it, I don't want it, and I don't think you want it either. Do you really want to be linked to Egan for the rest of your life? Wouldn't you rather just _be_? All this could end, here and now if you wanted"

Tala doesn't move; for one awful moment I get the stupid idea that my last attack actually killed him and now he's lying dead at my feet. But then his chest rises "ya khochu poprobovatʹ yego gnev" he mumbles under his breath. His hand clamps down over his face and he licks his dry lips.

"Tala?"

With a grunt he reopens his eyes and looks up at me with an icy look on his face; we stare at each other for a moment, and I realise, by some freak chance, that I've won. I'm not even sure I know how…maybe the truth about Bryan wanting to stop him really hit home.

Could they really want each other _that_ much?

But what do I know?

I can't even begin to imagine the crap they've been through together, always stuck together through their terrible childhood and then beyond. It makes sense really: why would Tala want to be linked to Egan for the remainder of his life when he already had Bryan's loyalty?

I can never know how much they mean to each other, but if Tala's feelings for Bryan were anything like mine for Kai then nothing in this world would keep them apart, especially not a creep like Egan. Because Tala doesn't want Egan, he knows that over time his younger brother would break them, just like he's destroyed Kai and me, eventually Egan would push Bryan out of Tala's life and then where would the world be?

Bryan's world would be lost in destruction that's for sure.

I kneel down beside Tala and hold out my hand "is it over, Tala? Will you let me live now? All you have to do is tell Wolborg to release Egan. Will you let Bryan win this time?"

Tala snorts with derision and knocks my hand away – well, I wasn't expecting anything else – he sits up roughly "Bryan's never won against me in his life" he states sourly.

"Maybe this time is different" I reply "after all, neither of you are willing to let you die…that won't happen if you just let me return to Japan"

"You'd return? Just like that?" the wolf's red eyebrow lifts in disbelief.

"Of course" I answer trying to keep the thoughts of Kai from my mind "I had already decided to anyway" I tilt my head as he closes his eyes again as if trying to rid himself of a headache "so?"

"So what!" Tala snaps.

"Am I free?"

Tala opens his mouth – probably to reply with some scathing yet affirmative comment granting me freedom to my own life. What a nice guy. But he never gets the chance to speak. A wind picks up, stronger than any storm could manage, and the air grows suddenly cold and icy. A young tree, proud of its straight stance, suddenly blows sideways, bending almost in half until the wood can no longer stand it.

It splinters.

With the sudden force I'm thrust forwards, my claws digging in to the ground to keep my balance; Tala seems less effected by the powerful airstreams, though his red hair is swept sideways as he looks towards the centre of it all, of course he would be less at risk by the power of his own Bitbeast.

Following his gaze I look over my shoulder, my hair whipping in my way as my eyes narrow against the blast.

Wind sweeping about him, leaves tearing from their trees in flurries, Egan stands in the heart of this new madness totally calm and still; the winds don't touch him, the air rushes by him as if repelled by his very presence. Not even his hair moves.

But his face…

Wrinkled with rage and hate, his eyes large with the forces of his own newfound power, he lifts his arm, raises his hand…

…And points at me.

"_YOU WON'T LIVE!_" he screams, "_I WON'T LET YOU LIVE! RUNNING ACROSS THE WORLD ISN'T ENOUGH FOR ME! YOU HAVE TO DIE!_"

Light blazes up from the ground, the air and the trees all seemingly under control of Egan; this is the power of the Bitbeast, what it could do if it were ever to possess a human. Egan was a ghost, now he's a monster. And he wants me. I raise my hand to protect my eyes as the air grows colder still; small speckles of snow start to rise from the space around Egan's lifted hand and ice forms on the path before his feet.

The ice grows up from the path, shaping itself as he stands there keeping me at bay with the wind; if I were a beyblade, a lump of metal, this wouldn't effect me. But I'm human, a neko-jin, and the wind shoots through my bones like I wasn't there at all. The cold has me frozen to the spot; I can't even move my head to look away.

Watch I must as huge shards of ice, big enough to slay an elephant, hover in front of Egan their pointed edges facing me. He sweeps his hand to the side, almost as if he's been practicing this when no one was looking; the ice starts forward, speeding through the air as there's no wind at all, launching towards me and I have no chance of escape-

Light bursts from my pocket, a new light; one that protects me and keeps me from the wind, warming my bones in seconds so I can stand. I leap out the way as the huge ice shards propel themselves in to the trunk of a tree directly behind me.

My hair stops wailing about my face, the snow melts before the edge of the light around me; there's a grumble, the growling moan of an animal that fills my head rather than reaches my ears. Egan laughs out loud at the sight, but Tala curses as everything spirals out of control; Egan attacks again, but the light around me blocks the attack as if it were nothing.

"Drigger…"

* * *

~Max's POV~

"Max, what are you doing here? Egan is far more powerful than a beyblade, this wind is too much for you"

"It's ok!" I shout, "I'm an American!"

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"Absolutely nothing at all!" I yell back "but I'm a Bladebreaker, Kai, we never make any sense!"

I stride passed him as Kai stands watching me; there are times in Kai's life when he is proud to call himself the Captain of the Bladebreakers, times when he can see passed the stupidity and the nonsense. I'd like to say that this was one of those times; I'd like to say that Kai sees the bravery and determination I've summoned to save Ray.

Unfortunately, judging by the complete lack of respect on his features, this is not the case.

Mind you, I have just crashed straight in to a lamppost.

I dare not take in Bryan's face, even over the wind I can hear him laughing at me; sighing heavily Kai starts forward fighting against the gusts of wind that burst forwards against us as if pushing us back. Somewhere to my left a small dog floats passed yapping excitedly; I hope that isn't Butchie, Tyson will never forgive me if I simply let the dog fly away – though I think everyone else would probably pat me on the back.

"HEY KAI!" I bellow at the top of my voice over the howling wind "WHAT'S WITH ALL THIS WIND! IT REMINDS ME OF WOLBORG BUT- that can't be right!" I finish lamely as the wind dies so suddenly I almost fall over.

"It is Wolborg" Kai replies, "I thought Tala had control of Egan, but it looks like Egan's snapped"

"Looks like your precious little plan didn't work!" Bryan snarls, "I knew this would happen! So did you!"  
Kai pauses on the path for a moment; unlike before everything is silent, now that the wind has stopped it's almost like the world doesn't dare move should it provoke another gale. I stand beside Kai looking around, trying to find another living soul in this seemingly dead park; all the walkers have hurried away, scared of a hurricane or some other natural force will be the end of them. And there's nothing else, not even a bird; the only movement is the clouded breath rising from my lips as I breathe.

"Kai, what's going on here?" I ask "why is it so cold?"

Bryan however prevents the phoenix from answering, "don't you dare!" he barks, "I won't let you!"

Kai ignores him "it seems I have no choice" he says to no one in particular "this has to end now"

"This is your fault!" Bryan sneers marching towards Kai and grabbing him by the collar "if you'd sent that fucking neko-jin packing when Tala told you to then this wouldn't be happening!"

"That is true" Kai admits slowly as he prises himself from Bryan's grip "that's why I will end it"

"No you won't!" Bryan's eyes widen in something that looks like anger, but beneath that there's something else, a certain look about him that fills me with dread or worry.

"Kai, what's happening?" I ask again, this time with more urgency "where's Ray!"

"Ray will be fine" says the phoenix.

"No he won't!" hisses the falcon in response "I'll kill him myself!"

Now it's Kai's turn to glare, there's a look of warning in his face "I made my decision, a long time ago"

"You think I'm just gonna stand around while you clean up the mess you made!" Bryan shouts.

The fury in him is burning, he looks ready for murder; he lunges at Kai, I dodge to the side just in time with a yelp, Kai slips passed him also but not before the falcon reaches out to grab him. He latches on to the phoenix, holding on to him fast; but there's something in Kai that's unstoppable and with a snarl he hefts his comrade off him once more, slamming Bryan in to a tree. But the falcon isn't beaten yet.

"I'LL KILL YOU NOW!" he roars leaping forwards "THEN I'LL RIP THAT TIGER APART!"

What happens next is so fast it's over in the blink of an eye; one instant Bryan is flying towards Kai, the next he's knocking the pair of them down. Kai falls back Bryan on top of him; the falcon is shouting, cursing in Russian his hands flaying Kai with everything he has-

Kai grunts, his arm jerks up hard and Bryan coughs; he stops moving with a shudder, he coughs again and it sounds wet. I run forward trying to see what happened; Kai mutters under his breath at the falcon, before pushing him off and sitting up. Bryan rolls, stumbling to regain balance; he lurches forward but he can't seem to struggle to his feet, he scrambles his way over to the base of the tree rolling over on to his back and slouching against the wood clutching his stomach.

I gasp.

The blood leaks through his top, staining the fabric in a dark wobbly circle around his hand that spreads further. I reach towards him horrified as he gurgles wiping the spit from his mouth.

I look back over my shoulder "Kai…"

"I don't have time to battle with him" the phoenix replies, though he seems to have a little guilt nagging at him because he adds "the wound isn't deep, he'll be fine"

Then he turns and walks away; I look back at Bryan feeling I should stay, but Bryan growls at me with a glare and I have to help Ray. Not knowing what to say I wonder about an ambulance but even as I pause Bryan is battling to his feet.

"Fuck off!" Bryan snaps "no one wants you here!"

I frown at him "I'm a Bladebreaker, and Ray is in trouble. I'm staying whether you like it or not"

And I turn to catch the phoenix up.

Catching the phoenix up when he's on a mission is always a little tricky; I remember when we were in New York Tyson sold Dranzer on the black market for seven hundred and forty eight thousand dollars, I have never seen Kai move so fast.

I've never seen Tyson move so fast either.

I'm not sure what Kai was planning to do once he got Tyson in his grasp but either way it doesn't matter because he never got the chance; Tyson was so scared of the phoenix that he ran out in to the road skipped passed three lorries, five different taxis, twelve civilian cars, four white vans, six motor bikes and bam!

He was run over by a four-year-old kid's bicycle on the other side of the road.

Needless to say Kai wasn't really interested to the damage Tyson endured that day.

"Kai! What the hell is happening!" I gasp as I catch my Captain up.

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, you should go home, Max"

"To hell with that! You just stabbed Bryan!"

Kai makes no sign of actual regret, but he does pause at my words "I'm aware of that" he answers "my plan was to stay his attack, not kill him. He'll be on his feet soon"

We turn off the path on to another smaller path; I don't know how but Kai seems to be conscious of where he's headed. Maybe it's the steadily cooling air around us, or the patches of ice beginning to form on the ground and up the trees; the clouds are rolling in, they were spread out wide before but thanks to the wind rushing about, they've closed in together.

I rub my arms to bring life to them; Japan was warmer not so long ago, all I'm wearing are the blue and pink trousers that aren't exactly built for winter weather and a blue t-shirt with a teddy bear on the front. In its hands the teddy is holding a large notice board saying: _I love hospitals._

The hospital was really low on spare clothes.

The ice is growing thicker as we walk; once I slip and cling on to Kai's arm for support, which is thus answered by a narrowing of the eyes. Sheesh, some people are just cold. We walk on down the path just as the trees around us start to spread out and loosen from the thicket we were previously walking through.

The only warning I get is a sudden pause in Kai's step before we round a small knot of trees blocking the path in front of us; moving round that, a scene hit our eyes. Ice is everywhere, clinging to the paths and the freezing the trees; but even as we stand there a tree frozen to a block of ice smashes apart in to pieces when light hits it faster than anything I've seen before. The shards of ice fly, and then they take form floating above the ground twisting until they're one long towering pillar of ice particles.

They seem to be flowing, closing around something that reveals itself to be a light, pale green, which is trapped in the middle of this tornado of ice.

"Ray!" I shout and start forwards.

"No" Kai grabs me and pulls me back as if I'm made of paper "this doesn't involve you"

I glare at him "yes it does" I say resolutely "if it involves Ray, then it involves me"

We stare at each other, and then Kai lets go.

"In that case, stay at his side" he replies "and don't try to tempt Egan"

He walks on down the path seemingly unfazed by the ice; Egan, standing on the other side of the ice tornado sees him for the first time and laugh manically. If he's trying to get under the phoenix's skin then he's failed; Kai walks on regardless of the new ice that starts to form around him, at first neither Egan or I can work out how he walks on without slipping. But under his feet steam starts to rise and it all becomes clear; just as Drigger is protecting Ray, Dranzer is guarding Kai.

Probably a good thing really, we don't want Kai slipping up on the ice and looking like an idiot.

Though it would be fun to post up on Facebook.

"Stop this" says Kai clearly as he passes Ray who tries to catch his eye but fails.

I meanwhile join the tiger, hesitating at the green glow before Ray smiles at me looking rather pleased to see me "I probably shouldn't say this" he mutters "but I'm glad you're here"

"Course I am" I grin "after all, Kai wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't for me and his grandmother's skull"

Ray blinks "his grandmother's skull?"

"Or his father's, the actual identity is a little unclear"

"I see" is all Ray can think of in response to this.

"So nice to see you again, Kai" Egan smiles "though you should have waited until tonight" he winks.

Beside me Ray lifts his eyebrow.

"The game is over, Egan" Kai says calmly "this is the end"

"Oh no, Kai, he's not dead yet" Egan is still grinning "but don't worry, I'm winning"

"Ray isn't going to die today" the phoenix answers.

Egan is silent for a moment; his smile fades as he and Kai regard each other calmly, the ice is still creeping about but the shards of ice that had towered above us ominously now begin melting away. Egan's face is darkening, all humour is gone from his eyes and the threat of a snarl appears around his mouth. Kai stays where he is, quiet, his gaze never leaves Egan though he must become aware of Tala who appears from under the shadow of a tree.

"Stay out of this, Tala"

"I can't simply stand by and let you destroy him" the wolf says coldly "I may have decided not to kill Ray myself, but I can't deprive Egan of trying…especially in light of what Ray now knows" he gives the phoenix a studied look "you lied to me, you already knew that Ray knew about the dead man, didn't you?"

Kai's eyes narrow, he doesn't reply directly "this is your last chance, Tala"

The redhead laughs "what? Are you going to let Ray kill me? We both know he hasn't got it in him, our deal was as long as Ray didn't find out he would be left alone but he knows all now, we have no choice" he smiles over at the neko-jin who is looking rather sad about it all "maybe I won't kill Ray myself, but, though using Wolborg was against my wishes, I can't simply prevent Egan from trying"

"I mean it" is the only reply Kai has "this is my last warning" he returns his attention back to Egan "for both of you"

Egan growls loudly "so you show your true colours at last! I thought you might have remembered what we meant to each other, but it seems I was wrong" he curls his lip "I should have known when you wouldn't let me have Ray's body! I had to possess animals thanks to you! I came back to Tala crawling in some manky cat after it tried to eat the bird I'd trap myself in to, thanks to you!"

He stops, waiting for Kai's reply and when there's none, he glares harder.

"WELL I WON'T LET YOU WIN!" his eyes blaze and he lifts his arm again "I WON'T LET YOU HAVE HIM, KAI! IF I CAN'T HAVE HIS BODY THEN NEITHER CAN HE! I'LL KILL HIM FIRST!"

The wind starts again, howling outwards from his outstretched hand twisting and turning in to something cold and sharp; around us the pale green light flows brighter preparing itself for defence. In his pocket, Ray's hand tightens on his blade, seeking comfort in it and reminding me of my own blade that suddenly feels so heavy in my pocket.

"I'LL KILL HIM, KAI!" Egan roars as the wind lifts high in to the air and I'm almost swept away it "THEN YOU'LL BE FREE OF HIS SPELL! YOU JUST WAIT!"

"Egan" Kai's face hardens as he fights to stand against the blast.

The ice forms on the trees, the air grows colder than before; our breath is snatched away and it's hard to breathe. But somehow Kai is still standing there, even as Ray and I are knocked backwards; even Tala struggles under the power of his own Bitbeast, he tries to move out of range but a stronger gust of wind as him moving forwards in to Kai rather than back.

And then it happens.

Despite the wind, the noise, the ice and the cold stinging our eyes, we all see it.

"NO!" Ray cries out loud as the knife sinks straight in to Tala's stomach.

His shout is lost in the winds, but Egan doesn't need the sound as his brother stumble against the phoenix his entire weight falling in to Kai's grasp. The winds start dying even as we stand there; Ray runs forward trying to reach Kai to stop him.

"No, Kai! Don't do it!" he reaches the phoenix, but Kai pushes him off.

"I will protect you"

He wrenches the knife out just as Egan reaches him; they fall to the ground as Tala is caught by Ray to stop the wolf hitting the path. I run to Ray who cradles Tala's head in his arms; blood is spattered around the redhead's mouth, he's clutching his stomach but as his rasping breaths pass his grip weakens. The wind is fading, dying away as if it was never there and all at once the air is too thick.

"Get away" Tala coughs "I will…_not_ die in your…arms!"

More blood.

Ray winces and presses his hand to the wound "just wait, alright. You'll be fine!"

The hint of a smile touches Tala's lips "you really…think Kai misses his…targets?" he laughs, only to cough a second later and choke on his own blood.

"Dammit, Tala!" Ray almost snarls at him "why didn't you listen to me? I thought I got through to you!"

Again Tala tries to laugh, but it hurts too much and blood bubbles from his wound as I pressed my own hand down hard "since…when did I…listen to anything a _Bladebreaker_…says" blood is staining his teeth, he just won't stop leaking blood.

There's too much.

"Tala! Stay with me!" Ray's voice lifts as Tala's eyes glaze.

"Never thought he'd actually…do it…" he mutters his lips slipping on blood "Kai…really is mysterious…"

"Tala! Just hang on!" Ray looks over at me "call an ambulance!"

I'm already fumbling for my phone-

"_TALA_!"

But before I can hit the buttons I'm wrenched away from Tala as if I was grass, Ray too is yanked away as a large form drags us away; Bryan rises up from behind us and shoves us away again snarling, blood is clinging to his clothes but he ignores his wound as he grabs Tala's limp body in to his arms.

"There you are" Tala coughs again, he blinks slowly up at the falcon who holds on tighter to him, he tries to stop the bleeding with his hand but Tala winces in pain and Bryan stops "I was…waiting for you" he coughs again.

Blood is seeping in to Bryan's clothes, his hands are covered but all he stares at is the darkening glaze in Tala's face; once the wolf tries to speak, blood chokes him and he coughs instead. Bryan leans in with a quick question in Russian and Tala shakes his head.

He tries to talk again, and the words trip in mouth; gritting his teeth he sucks in the cold air and reaches up to Bryan's collar dragging him down to speak in his face.

"Die…So mnoĭ"

There's a pause, Bryan glares down at him for a moment.

And then nods.

"Ray"

I turn to look over my shoulder; Kai stands there covered in blood, breathing deeply and holding on to his chest where a deep scratch runs from one side to the other. I quickly look around "where's Egan?"

"Egan is dead" the phoenix says softly "it's over"

"Are you alright!" I rush to his side "you're hurt!"

"Nothing that won't heal, Egan wouldn't go down without a last fight"

"We should get you to a hospital, Tala too" I lift my phone up again, only to find it frozen over with ice and dead.

"Tala is dead" Kai answers.

"No, he isn't" I assure him "he's right-" I look back over my shoulder to point.

Tala's lifeless body in held angrily in Bryan's hold; he's leaning over the bloody corpse and refuses to let go even as Ray reaches out a hand "fuck off!"

"Ray" says Kai again "it's time to leave"

Ray stands there frozen in shock, staring at the body and its mourner; then he turns sharply on his heel and walks away, sweeping passed Kai without a second glance at him. I run after him down the path but Ray's walking so fast it's impossible to catch up; he's round the trees and out of sight of the scene before I grab his arm.

"Ray!"

He turns around the hint of a tear welling in one eye as he glares angrily at Kai who follows on behind us; they don't speak as Kai stops in front of him and stares back, I stand by Ray my hand on his shoulder. Something is wrong; Ray's angry…

No, he's furious.

"What did he say?" the tiger asks savagely "what did Tala say to Bryan?"

Kai pauses, then "he told Bryan to die with him"

Ray nods taking this in, but his anger doesn't dissipate as he yanks his shoulder from me and strides over to Kai bringing his hand down on Kai's face.

"Ray!" I shout in alarm "now isn't the time!" I rush to Kai's side and block Ray's next attack.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ray demands, "this didn't have to happen, Kai! Why didn't you tell me everything!"

"Because you would have left" the phoenix blinks calmly, seemingly unaffected by Ray's hit.

"But this didn't have to happen, Kai! Tala shouldn't be dead!" Ray shouts, he takes a deep breath and adds, "you know something! I was wrong about Bryan, once again I was wrong! He wasn't warning me to stay clear of Tala, he was warning me about you!"

"It was always my plan to kill Tala" Kai admits, "it was only a matter of time" he lowers his eyes "but I did attempt to keep Egan alive, I owed them that much"

"They could both be alive if you'd just told me what was going on!" Ray snarls, "instead you just walked away, like you always do! This is your fault! It's your fault Tala is dead!"

"I was prepared of the price I had to pay"

"And why! All so I would stay in Japan?"

"Yes"

Ray turns away, not knowing what to say; the tear is still threatening but it never comes as he looks up at the skies above, the air is warmer now and the ice melting away. Almost as if nothing every happened "then this is all my fault" the neko-jin mutters "just because I fell in love with you" he swallows and lifts his hand to his mouth "I should have stayed away, married Mariah like Lee told me to" his eyes close "now look at us" he whispers.

He looks over at me.

"I don't know what to do" his golden eyes snap back over at Kai "it was selfish, you realise that right?"

"I've done things I'm ashamed of" Kai says still emotionlessly "but if the outcome is what I desire then it doesn't matter"

"And what is that outcome?" asks Ray resentfully "that I stay in Japan, I suppose"

"Yes"

"Are you, Ray?" I ask breathlessly "after all that's happening, are you going to stay?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know!" he whirls around looking from one to the other "how can I stay here!" he points down the path "how can I stay knowing that all _this _is because of me!" he looks back at Kai searching for an answer, but the phoenix says nothing "then again…" Ray's voice lowers "how can I leave…when all of this was _for_ me?"

He grits his teeth and slams his fist in to Kai's chest regardless of the wound, but he doesn't leave Kai, doesn't back away again; they stay like that Kai's eyes never leaving Ray's. Slowly Ray reaches up his hand to wipe away a smear of blood from Kai's face.

"Dammit" he whispers again "why do I still love you?" he pushes the hair from the phoenix's face "it was all for me?" he asks "just so I would stay a while longer?"

Kai nods.

"But everything Bryan did was for Tala" the tiger continues, "how can I simply ignore that sacrifice he made?"

"Because it was his sacrifice to make," the phoenix answers "his choice alone"

"And Egan? What about him?"

"Trying to keep him alive all this time was a mistake"

"So why did you? You, Bryan and Tala, why did you try so hard to keep him in this world?"

"A notion of obligation"

"And now?"

"I see differently"

"So where is he now?"

Kai shakes his head "that's not for me to know. Egan faded away, that's all that matters"

"And you?" Ray looks at him closely "you've lost them all, Kai, are you going to fade away too?"

Kai breaks their gaze and watches a bird returning to its previous tree "I'm the Captain of the Bladebreakers"

"I see" Ray's eyes drop to the wound marring Kai's chest "what about me?"

"That's for you to decide alone, it's your choice"

Ray nods slowly "you killed Tala…" he murmurs "…for me"

For a moment, he looks so ashamed.

This is too much; I leap on them both wrapping my arms around the pair "come on" I say trying to sound cheerful "this isn't the place, not with what's round that corner. We should go"

Ray looks at me "where?"

"To the hospital of course" I wag my head at Kai who doesn't appreciate my arms around his neck "unless you want him to bleed out"

Ray blinks and looks back at the injury; he nods slowly but seems still undecided "what about Tala? Bryan?"

"I don't think they'd really appreciate your sympathy" I say delicately "but we can think about that later" I clap Ray on the shoulder and try to clap Kai on the shoulder to give symmetry.

He glares at me.

"It takes time" I continue, "this isn't going to get fixed in a day"

"But-" Ray tries.

I shake my head "no, Ray, this needs to be healed with time, not words. That's why you can't leave Japan now, that's just running away and you'd never forgive yourself. That's why you're staying in Japan, that's why Kai's staying too. So we can help each other, be with each other, become a team again and then you two can start again…you see?"

Bravely, I take a look at Kai's expression.

Who died and made you God, is basically what it says.

"You're right" Ray mutters slowly still looking back at the scene we left "time…"

As one we turn away from the hidden horror, there's nothing else we can do; the only thing left is to move away and lick our wounds, that's what I learnt when my grandmother died. We can't begin to even contemplate what happened, I realise, stealing a glance at Kai and Ray as they walk along with Kai leaning slightly on Ray; the neko-jin's hand pressing down on the wound.

They're silent.

But even so there's still that passion in Ray's eyes as he clings to the phoenix.

As for Kai, he's not going anywhere the tiger isn't.

"Oh, by the way" I suddenly think aloud "what happened to Butchie?"

Ray pauses, his eyes widen slightly "…um"

So much for going home and putting my feet up.

Tyson will have us scouring the whole of Japan to find that damn dog.

**The End**

* * *

You know, I think in the end, it was Bryan I really felt sorry for. Poor guy. Didn't really like Egan, as a character he didn't really have much to him, but I created him a few years ago so his characterization is a little less developed than some of my OCs now.

Yeah, so be warned that these translations come from Google and not from any knowledge of the Russian language. I make no claims to know any Russian so an Internet translation is all I've got to go on. It may seem a little stupid to use a language I know nothing about, but I personally think Tala would say stuff like that in his mother tongue BECAUSE no one knows what he's saying…am I sad that I've put so much thought in to this.

_YA khochu poprobovatʹ yego gnev_ – I want to taste his anger. I figured Tala's not one to profess love or any actual words of fondness like 'I love you' or even anything more physical like 'I think you're hot'. So this was the best I could come up with.

_Die So mnoĭ_ - Die with me

It's over. Wow.

I wasn't sure what I felt about the ending when I first wrote it out, I had to reread it like three times before I was anything close to satisfied. I wanted to put in another chapter, but in all honesty I want this story to be put to bed and I couldn't think of another ending for it.

Just so you, there was a time when I was going to let Tala somehow live, but in the end I realise that, by my own damn ruling, he was going to have to die. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with Bryan though, leaving him with Tala seemed best.

At some point I want to go back to the beginning and rewrite the first couple of chapters, but don't hold your breath.

Anyway, this one of my oldest stories finally finished.

If you would like to read more Kai x Ray stories then check out **Breathless** (which is basically a much better version of this one) and **Virtue Of Life**.

Thank you all for reading!

Please leave a review.

Kiki

Kizzes!


End file.
